Strange Fate
by Melissa Rose
Summary: My interpretation of Strange Fate... I finally updated Chapter 10... took me long enough... just a pointless, filler chapter. AUTHOR'S NOTE: To be rewritten in the near future.
1. Chapter One

Disclaimers: Nope, don't own any of LJS' characters:( Nor am I making any money off of this... this is just what happened two summers ago when I had no new LJ to read... now maybe I'll actually finish the last six or so chapters that I had planned for it:)  
  
  
  
Chapter One  
  
Sarah Strange peeked through the pale yellow living room curtains of the Circle Daybreak Sanctuary before twisting around and settling back onto the couch, her hands on her knees. It was a beautiful, peaceful day outside, and here she was, ready to jump out of her skin at a moment's notice.  
  
She brushed her long blonde hair away from her face, leaning forward with pent up excitement.   
  
"What are you so nervous about?" her green eyed friend, Annabelle Redfern asked, tilting her head to the side questioningly before sitting on the couch next to Sarah. "It's only my brother. You've gone out with Blade thousands of times before." She shook her head in something like exasperation, her honey colored hair spilling over one shoulder. "You get worked up over the strangest things."  
  
"But this time," Sarah said with a wide grin, "He said that he had a big surprise for me." She stood up suddenly, starting to rearrange the green glass vase of flowers on the coffee table with jittery fingers.   
  
The purple orchid next to the orange tiger lily. Now that looked nice. Sarah pulled a bright yellow daffodil forward and placed it above the other two flowers with a satisfied sigh. She had grown the flowers herself, in the lush green fields that surrounded the sanctuary, and had brought them inside. Blade always smiled when she brought the fresh flowers and there was nothing Sarah wouldn't do to see that smile.  
  
"This surprise better not be an engagement ring," Annabelle muttered, her eyebrows drawing together. "This whole soulmate thing has gotten completely out of hand. Besides, you're entirely too young to be engaged." Then she laughed softly, a playful smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "Well it could be worse. You just be happy that your soulmate isn't *vermin.*"  
  
"We're not vermin," Sarah said with a sigh, pausing in her flower arranging to glance at Annabelle. "We're human's. And we deserve to find our soulmates just as much as you do."  
  
Annabelle and Sarah had been friends ever since she had met Blade. And from that moment Sarah had known that Blade was her one and only. It seemed destined that one day, Blade and Sarah would get married, making Annabelle her sister. Unfortunately, a human being soulmates with a vampire caused the couple to be the targets of numerous Night World attacks; attacks that eventually caused them to retreat to the safety of Circle Daybreak.   
  
Sarah knew exactly what Night World Law said. She knew the penalty for breaking the law, for telling a human about the Night World... Or for falling in love with one of them. Unfortunately, the Old Powers that were rising in preparation for the coming millennium didn't concern themselves with Night World Law. And in the end, Sarah and Blade were another set of mismatched soulmates.  
  
Secretly, though, Sarah wondered what would happen if Annabelle found *her* soulmate. And what would happen if that soulmate turned out to be a human. Vermin. Sarah was convinced that it would bring an end to Annabelle's 'vermin' comments quickly.  
  
But being a part of Circle Daybreak had dulled the sharp edge of Annabelle's jokes and, although Annabelle would never admit it, the rumors that had been spreading through the Night World like wildfire must have had her on edge. The rumors about the end of the world, about four Wild Powers, four teenagers destined to prevent the end of the world. And about a group of people, Night Worlders and humans alike, who had joined together to find the Wild Powers and prevent darkness from triumphing.  
  
"What scares me is that one day *you're* going to be a Redfern," Annabelle said with a frown, breaking into Sarah's thoughts. "I can't even believe *I'm* a damned Daybreaker. And soon I'm going to be related to not one but two of them."  
  
Sarah just shook her head in response, taking a spring of white baby's breath and tucking it behind one ear.  
  
"And Blade's a damned Daybreaker too," Annabelle was going on.   
  
"It was always Blade's choice," Sarah murmured, eyes and fingers still on the colorful flowers.  
  
"He's noble, Sarah. He had to follow you. I've seen him do crazier things for you." Annabelle paused, hearing the shrill sound of the telephone. "I wonder who that is," she said with raised eyebrows before dashing into the white tiled kitchen.  
  
Sarah looked after her friend and picked up the vase, starting towards the kitchen herself. She sat at the round wooden table, settling into a white and beige striped chair.  
  
"Hello?" Annabelle was saying into the beige receiver. "Hello," she said again, this time a little impatiently. "Hello!"   
  
Annabelle slammed the telephone down before stomping over to Sarah, throwing herself into a chair across the table. "I hate when people do that. If you've got the wrong number at least have the decency to say so and apologize." She started tapping her red fingernails on the tabletop.  
  
But Sarah was barely listening. Instead, her blue eyes were focused on the brown Dodge that had just pulled into the driveway with a slight cough and sputter. She laughed silently to herself. Blade just refused to get rid of his old car, saying that it was going to be a classic one day.   
  
She did a double take when she saw the smashed headlight and felt her hands clench when Blade got out of the car looking bruised and beaten.   
  
His blue and green plaid shirt was rumpled, mostly around the collar, as though someone had taken the fabric and twisted it around in his or her fist. And Blade's blue jeans were muddy in the knees and lower legs, as though he had been knocked to the ground.  
  
She hopped up from the kitchen chair, the baby's breath falling to the tabletop. Ignoring Annabelle's protests and wild waves of her hands, she rushed to the front door, throwing it open just as Blade reached it and was in his arms a moment later.  
  
Blade kissed her lightly on the forehead and gave her a tired smile. "I know I said that we'd go out tonight, but I don't think that's such a good idea." He ran a hand that was turning purplish from a large oval bruise through his hair.  
  
Sarah studied him closely, noticing the wary look in his hazel eyes and the puffiness just below the right one as though he had been hit hard. Blade's forehead was sliced open; a trail of blood marking the side of his face, and his golden hair was uncharacteristically disheveled. Her eyes traveled down his sculptured face, the planes of his cheekbones, his strong chin. That chin and his lower lip were cut as well and smeared with dried blood. She froze, looking back up into his eyes.   
  
Then her fingers reached up and touched his forehead gently as though it could give her the answers she desperately wanted to know. "What is it? Blade what happened?"  
  
Blade led Sarah into the house, wincing slightly as he put pressure on his left leg, and nodded in greeting to Annabelle who was already coming towards them.   
  
"What in the world happened to you?" Annabelle said, critically wrinkling her nose at her unkempt brother. "The grunge look went out a few years ago Blade."  
  
Blade smiled almost sheepishly and pushed up his torn plaid shirtsleeves. "It will all heal," he said, the smile dropping after a moment. "I got ambushed in an alleyway outside of LA," he said under his breath, slipping one arm around Sarah's waist.  
  
Annabelle raised her eyebrows and leaned back against the wall, her right leg crossed over her left at the ankle. "Let me guess, you got mugged? Did they take your wallet?"  
  
"They didn't want my wallet," Blade said. He glanced at Sarah who was chewing at her lip nervously.  
  
"If they didn't want your wallet, what did they want?" Sarah said quietly, slipping her hand into Blade's comforted by the pleasant haze that encased her whenever they touched. A chill stronger than her witch senses was telling her that something was very, very wrong.  
  
Blade looked at both Annabelle and Sarah with an even gaze as though he were trying to judge their reactions to what he had to say even before he said it.  
  
"They wanted to take me to meet Maya Redfern."  
  
"*The* Maya Redfern?" Annabelle said skeptically, smoothing her flowered skirt and beginning to look uninterested before crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't think so Blade. Maybe they hit you in the head a little too hard. Maya Redfern is dead. Remember? Try again."  
  
Blade shrugged. "Maybe? But that's what they said. They were talking about the Wild Powers."  
  
Annabelle nodded in return. "Who isn't? What a mess."  
  
Sarah glanced at Annabelle reproachfully. "It's not a mess... yet," she said.   
  
*This is just going to turn into another one of our arguments,* Sarah thought with a sigh. "Besides, that's not the point." She looked at Blade. "What do the Wild Powers have to do with you getting jumped in an alleyway? Did they recognize you?" Sarah swallowed hard, apprehension settling over her heart like an iron fist. "Do they know you're a member of Daybreak?"  
  
Blade smiled wryly. "Well apparently all four of the Lamia who got their kicks out of beating me senseless also work for Maya Redfern. *The* Maya Redfern," he mimicked, his eyes on his sister. "Apparently, Maya's still alive. I know that both the Council and Circle Daybreak say that Lady Hannah killed her..."  
  
Sarah nodded. "Yes, with a stake."  
  
"Well somehow, Maya wasn't killed. It's like everyone's been saying. How could a human kill a powerful vampire, the first vampire? It never made sense to anyone. And so now she's alive."  
  
Annabelle straightened, uncrossing her arms. "As wonderful as that all is, what exactly does it have to do with you and the Wild Powers?"  
Blade rubbed his temples as though this entire conversation was giving him a terrible headache. "That's what Maya wanted to talk to me about. She thinks that *I'm* the fourth Wild Power." 


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two  
  
Annabelle started laughing. It began with her covering her mouth with her hands, peals of laughter escaping her lips as her shoulders shook uncontrollably, and ended with hiccups.   
  
"Oh give me a break, Blade," she gasped out when she was finally able to speak. "You're no more the fourth Wild Power than I am."  
  
Blade rose one blonde eyebrow in response. "Well that's what *I* tried to tell them. They were pretty sure of themselves though." He winced as he tapped his cut forehead for effect.  
  
"This is ridiculous Blade," Annabelle said. She started back for the living room, not bothering to check if either Blade or Sarah were following and settled onto the green flowered, suede couch, remaining silent until her brother and his soulmate appeared in the doorway. "Don't you think you'd know if you were a Wild Power? Don't you think Circle Daybreak would know?"  
  
"I'm not exactly on expert on the subject, Annabelle," Blade said wearily, leading Sarah over to the couch so that she could sit down.   
  
"You look pale, is something wrong?" he asked as she leaned back.  
  
Sarah shook her head, pale blonde hair falling into her eyes. *No, nothing's wrong,* she thought ironically. *Only that my soulmate's suspected of being the fourth Wild Power. No biggie.*  
  
"I'm just worried about you, that's all," she said, squeezing Blade's hand. "But I do think that we should try to get in touch with Lord Thierry and Lady Hannah. They'll want to know about this."  
  
"*Everybody* will want to know about this." Annabelle turned to look outside in a perfectly controlled motion, her green eyes narrowed thoughtfully.  
  
"I'm sure it's all just a mix-up," Sarah said suddenly, looking at her friend in concern. Annabelle had never seemed truly happy being a part of Circle Daybreak and it worried Sarah. When Annabelle wasn't making cracks about humans or doing her best to annoy her brother, she was moody and withdrawn, spending most of her time by herself, sometimes staring at something that it seemed only she could see.  
  
"A mix-up," Sarah said more firmly. "And Lord Thierry will know exactly what to do. It'll all work out." She glanced at Blade for reassurance and the Lamia returned the look with a lopsided grin.   
  
"Annabelle?" Sarah tried to get the other girl's attention again. But Annabelle continued her vigil by the window, her eyes beginning to look more squinted than narrow now.  
  
"Who's coming by today?" Annabelle said oddly, her voice hushed. Her shoulder's tensed as her hands gripped the back of the couch so tightly that her knuckles turned white.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Blade asked, maneuvering so that he could look over his sister's shoulder. He squinted out the window, his eyebrows drawn together. "No one should be coming."  
  
"Then why," Annabelle said distinctly, "*Is* someone coming?"  
  
Startled, Sarah twisted and pushed herself up on the back of the couch, following Annabelle's gaze out the window. "There's no one there..."   
"Well of course *you* don't see it," Annabelle nearly snapped.   
  
There, another reminder that Sarah was 'only' a human. Sarah looked at Annabelle in surprise. Although the other girl often talked about human's in a generally degrading way, she had never directed the comments at Sarah.  
  
Blade, sensing the tension, leaned between the two girls. "There definitely is a silver car coming in this direction. Daybreak didn't mention anything about sending people over did they?"  
  
Sarah blinked as a silver Buick finally came into view, its windows tinted entirely too dark to be legal. "I don't think so..." she started, cut off by the sound of something shattering.  
  
There was a crash from the back of the house, the sound of glass splintering and falling to the ground, tinkling like raindrops. Sarah's head snapped around. "I think we can definitely say that those aren't Daybreak agents. They usually use the front door," she   
said a little shakily.  
  
"Definitely not Daybreak agents," Blade confirmed, his hand closing around Sarah's upper arm as he pulled her up and started for the front door. "Lets go, we're getting out of here."  
  
Sarah almost tripped at the force he pulled her with. "Blade.." she started, almost tripping again as he stopped suddenly. Annabelle ran into them from behind, letting out a small cry of surprise.  
  
"Wonderful," Blade said under his breath as someone hit the door once, hard, the frosted glass on the sides of the cherry wood door rattling. "Upstairs," he said, changing direction in one swift motion. He pushed the two girls up the blue carpeted stairs, almost knocking a silver framed picture from the wall in his haste.  
  
It was a painting by Salvatore Dali; the painting of the melting clocks. *Time's running out,* Sarah thought illogically, her paranoia freezing her in place so that Blade had to give her arm a violent tug to get her up another step.  
  
Sarah reached out and touched the painting with trembling fingers until Blade yanked her away, causing her to lose contact with the picture. The picture and the only thing that she was certain of at that moment. That time was running out.  
  
"Blade," she said, fear bubbling in her throat, hot and acidic. "We're going to be trapped up here."  
  
Blade put one arm behind her back and the other under her legs, sweeping her up. "Relax, it's going to be fine, I've got you."  
  
*He thinks I'm in shock,* Sarah thought with something like mild surprise. She wanted to tell him that she wasn't, that she was thinking quite clearly, but she couldn't make her mouth work. Instead, Sarah buried her face into Blade's shoulder as he followed Annabelle into her bedroom.  
  
Sarah looked up when she heard the door close behind them and glanced around at the dark purple walls. Annabelle never really liked bright colors Circle Daybreak still didn't know that one rainy day Annabelle had gone out, bought a bucket of 'Atomic Purple' paint, and brought it home, using an old paintbrush she had found in the basement to smear it over the walls. The overall effect was that the room looked as though it had been dropped into a glass of grape juice.  
  
Annabelle loved it. Blade said that it would eventually grow on him. Annabelle's response to *that* was that it didn't have to grow on Blade because he didn't have to live in it.  
  
Sarah had just thought that it was silly to paint a bedroom as small as Annabelle's such a dark color. But right now, she was grateful for the shadows that the walls cast, as though she were protected in the darkness. She had felt exposed and vulnerable in the bright yellows and greens downstairs. Here, in the dim light, Sarah felt safe.  
  
"We're going to have to climb down the tree," Annabelle was saying, already pushing her heavy linen midnight blue curtains out of the way and looking out her window. "Then run as fast as we possibly can to your car, Blade. And hope that it doesn't break down while we're trying to get away," she added as an afterthought. "How *has* it been running?"  
  
"I don't think now's the time to be worrying about that," Blade said, moving to stand by his sister. "Are you alright to climb down?" he said to Sarah.  
  
Sarah nodded, the words still stuck somewhere in her throat, and felt the world sway beneath her as Blade set her back on her feet. She reached out, grabbing onto his arm for support. He immediately returned the pressure, steadying her.  
  
"I don't think this is going to work," Blade said, speaking over Sarah's head to Annabelle.  
  
"We don't have any other choice," Annabelle said through her teeth. She took Sarah firmly by the shoulders and shook her, once. "Now listen. Snap out of it. You're climbing down this tree."  
  
Sarah nodded her head, the room slowly coming back into focus. "Alright... ok, I'm fine. Lets go," she said, her voice slowly becoming steady. Sarah took a deep breath as Annabelle threw the window open, allowing a faint breeze smelling of honeysuckle to waft into the bedroom.  
  
Annabelle swung a leg over the side of the window and boosted herself out, grabbing hold of the old oak tree, the outer bark splintering from her hard grip on it. Using the strength in her upper arms, Annabelle supported her weight until both feet were secure. She shimmied down the tree a little so that Sarah would have room to climb on.   
  
"Ok Sarah, grab hold of the tree. Blade and I will both help you."  
  
Sarah wanted to argue, wanted to say that she didn't have the strength or the nerve to climb down to the ground. But she didn't. There was no other way; it was either climb or... Well she didn't want to think of the or.  
  
Sarah reached out the window, her hand closing around one of the branches, bark biting into her palm. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, then Blade was lowering her to a branch where she could firmly secure her feet.  
  
"Go ahead," Blade said. "Annabelle's right below you, she'll help you down."  
  
Sarah looked at him suspiciously. "You're coming with us, aren't you?"  
  
"I'll be right down," Blade said, already glancing over his shoulder to the door of the bedroom. "I just want to make sure no one's following. Now go on, get to the car."  
  
Sarah paused, her hands gripping the tree tightly, but she barely felt the pain. She looked up at Blade, blinking back unexpected tears. "Blade, please come with us, right now?"  
  
Blade smiled gently at her. "I'll be right after you. I promise. Go ahead." He pulled back from the window, shutting the panes of glass and closing the curtains before turning away and starting towards the bedroom door just as it burst open.  
  
  
  
**********************************************************  
  
  
"And Thierry said that the Night World has an idea of who the fourth Wild Power is?" Rashel Jordan said skeptically, her green eyes narrowed as she leaned forward towards Nilsson who was driving the sleek black limousine that belonged to Thierry Descouedres, the leader of Circle Daybreak. "And he's just sending us to check it out now? I don't buy it." She sat back with a thump, arms crossed, against the gray leather interior.  
  
Lupe Acevedo, a brown haired werewolf who worked closely with Circle Daybreak and Thierry looked at Rashel patiently as though she was used to dealing with the girl's sudden outbursts. "Buy it. Lord Thierry just heard about it. And if it is true, you can bet that the Night World already has agents out investigating it. Hopefully they haven't found Blade Redfern's sanctuary yet."  
  
"And if they have?" Nissa Johnson twisted in the front passenger seat to look at the other occupants of the car. "Are you saying that we might already be too late?" She pushed a strand of sleek mink colored hair behind one ear and looked at Nilsson from the corner of one brown eye. "Hey, can't you drive any faster?" With a sigh, she turned to face the road, frowning. "I told you to let me drive."  
  
There was a soft chuckle from the back of the limousine. "Oh we'll make it in time. We're the good guys; and that's what the good guys do. Save the poor, unsuspecting victims."  
  
"Funny Kierlan," Rashel snapped, glaring at the dark haired, leather clad man beside her. "What we should have done was left you behind."  
  
Kierlan Harman smiled, showing off two perfect rows of white teeth, stretching his arms out so that one slid over Rashel's shoulder and leaned back, feet splayed out in front of him. "You wouldn't miss me? Come on Rashel, say you'd miss me," he said, tilting his head so that his sunglasses slid down and she could see his almond shaped eyes, black and shiny as obsidian.  
  
"Like the plague," Rashel muttered, shrugging his arm off and leaning forward. "I'm itching for a good fight Kierlan, don't push it."  
  
Kierlan switched his gaze to Lupe. "I don't think I like the way I'm being treated."  
  
Rashel turned furious eyes on the black haired witch. "Then get out of the limo," she snapped, quickly switching seats to sit next to Lupe.  
  
Kierlan drew his legs up so that he could sprawl out on the seat that he now had all to himself. "Ah, foot room. Are we almost there?"  
  
"We would be if I were driving," Nissa said, starting to sound tense. "No, no, no, Nilsson, you were supposed to turn *there.*"  
  
Nilsson glanced at the vampire beside him. "Miss Nissa, will you kindly shuttup up if I let you drive?"  
  
Nissa was silent for a moment, as if his sudden outburst surprised her. Then said, "Yes. Yes I will."  
  
Nilsson smiled vaguely and pulled to the side of the road with a screech, ignoring the sound of blaring horns as cars around the limousine tried not to hit them. A cherry red convertible in particular had to swerve to another lane to avoid a collision. Nilsson merely waved at the driver with a smile before pushing open his door and going around to the passenger side.  
  
He pulled his black driver's cap from his head and placed it on Nissa's, patting her firmly on the head as the mink colored vampire climbed into the driver's seat.  
  
Nissa settled against the soft leather, adjusting the seat and mirrors to fit her height, then checked the rearview. "Everyone buckled up?" she said, her voice laced with barely hidden excitement.  
  
"Why do I have the feeling that I'm gonna be car sick," Rashel muttered.  
  
Nissa, ignoring the blatant jab at her driving skills, threw the limousine into gear, pealing away from the shoulder of the road with a squeal of rubber. She crossed three lanes of traffic and swerved into a U-turn, changing direction and cutting in front of a red and white truck. Then Nissa pressed her foot down on the gas petal until it reached the floor, the limousine lurching forward with a sudden burst of speed.  
  
"Now I *know* I'm going to be car sick," Rashel said, a hand rubbing at her temples.  
  
Nissa smirked at Rashel in the rearview mirror as she wove in and out of traffic, cutting off vehicles both bigger and smaller than her own. "This is our exit," she said, turning towards the sign the read 'San Noche-Exit 12.' "Wild Power number four here we come!" 


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three  
  
Sarah felt fear clutch at her throat, making it difficult to breathe and even harder to keep a steady hand on the branches of the large, looming oak tree. She glanced down and felt a queasy feeling in her stomach; the kind of feeling that she got from sitting backwards in a car or from being on a boat too long.  
  
Then she heard a bang from the bedroom above her and she started in surprise, almost losing her hold on the bark. Sarah let out a small yelp, glancing down at Annabelle. "Annabelle, why isn't Blade coming out here. What is he doing."  
  
"He's *your* soulmate, don't you know?" Annabelle said unceremoniously. The green eyed girl took hold of the edge of Sarah's dark blue pants and tugged. "Now come on, you heard what he said. We have to get to the car."  
The remainder of the descent consisted of Annabelle's not so gentle urges for Sarah to continue climbing down. Imitating the Lamia teenager, Sarah began to shimmy down the tree, almost hugging it so that her fingertips touched and she felt secure and steady. It was slow going, but not as slow as it would have been if Annabelle hadn't been there and, after a few minutes, Sarah was relieved to find her feet firmly planted on the dark green grass that was desperately in need of mowing.  
  
"Car now," Annabelle said, pulling Sarah after her to the brown Dodge. She started forward, almost confidently, before stopping suddenly. "Or... maybe not," she said softly, seeing what looked like a shapeshifter come around the side of the house. "Turn around," Annabelle hissed, pushing at Sarah.   
  
Sarah pulled her arm from Annabelle's grasp, overcome by fear and a swift kick of adrenaline. She took off across the lawn, her feet sinking into the soft dirt, her white jogging sneakers quickly becoming stained.  
  
"Sarah, stop, where are you going!" Annabelle shouted from behind her. Starting after the human girl, Annabelle knocked her to the ground just as a silver car pulled around to the side of the house that Sarah had been trying to run to. A tall, muscular Lamia with a head of thick red hair and slanted green eyes stepped out, a crazy smile on his lips.  
  
"Where in the world do you think you're running off to!" Annabelle said, pulling Sarah back to her feet and dragging the girl after her. "You're going to get yourself killed if you don't stick with me." Annabelle pressed her body close to the side of the white paneled house, out of sight from the silver Buick and its occupants, putting an arm over Sarah's chest to keep the girl from trying to run off again. "Listen to me, you idiot, we're both going to get killed at this rate. Just stay still."  
  
Sarah bit down hard on her lower lip, her teeth sinking into the tender flesh and shuddered, hearing heavy footfalls coming towards them.   
  
"Stay here," Annabelle whispered. "I'm going to hold them off. When its clear I want you to run for the car and get yourself out of here. Understand?"  
  
Sarah nodded numbly, her mind not quite processing the words. She couldn't   
leave both Blade and Annabelle behind. What was her friend talking about?  
  
But then Annabelle was creeping around the edge of the house, leaving Sarah on her own unable to do anything more that watch the blonde Lamia's retreating figure.  
  
She heard the undeniable thump of someone hitting the ground, hard, then Annabelle's desperate call for Sarah to run. Sarah's blue eyes widened in alarm as she started after Annabelle, blatantly ignoring that other girl's orders, and saw her struggling to get to her feet, her palms smeared with dirt, her hair disheveled. Standing above her was the red haired Lamia from before, a wooden club in his hands.  
  
Sarah let out a strangled cry, dropping to her knees next to Annabelle, covering the girl's bruised body with her own fragile one.   
  
"Would you get out of here," Annabelle gasped, her voice hoarse, pushing Sarah away. "Go!"  
  
"I'm not going to just leave you here!" Sarah returned firmly, slowly turning to look up at the man who was advancing on them, his white teeth glimmering as he smiled at the two girls.  
  
"Stupid girl," he said softly, tapping the club against one large, meaty palm.  
  
*Yeah, that would be it,* Sarah thought, hysterical, nonsensical laughter bubbling up in her throat. *I'm either really brave or really stupid. I'm betting on stupid...*  
  
Sarah turned her eyes away, burying her face into Annabelle's shoulder, the silk of Annabelle's black blouse filling her vision, her blonde hair covering her cheek like a satin curtain. But the blow never came.  
  
There was a rush of wind, as though someone had moved past them quickly. Sarah looked up just in time to see a figure in black dash past, taking the red haired Lamia by surprise with a swift kick in the back of his knees.  
  
The figure in black straightened from her crouching position -- it was most definitely a girl -- and pulled something from her tall black boot. It was what looked like a heavy black painted wooden stick, carved with designs that Sarah couldn't quite make out.  
  
"Goodnight Sweetheart," the newcomer murmured, bringing the stick down across the back of the Lamia's head, causing him to pitch forward into the ground, unconscious.   
  
The girl reached up, untying the black scarf that covered her face so that it fell away, revealing a pale, smooth face, framed with ebony colored hair that fell to her shoulders in waves.  
  
Blazing green eyes met Sarah's terrified blue ones. The girl held up the stick. "Bokken," she said by way of explanation. "I'm from Daybreak so you can stop looking at me like a deer trapped in the headlights. We have a car waiting for you around front. Shall we?"  
  
Sarah rose on shaking legs, clenching one fist determinedly by her side. She reached out to Annabelle, who was struggling with an ankle that looked as though it were badly twisted, and helped her up.   
  
"I'll be fine in a little while," Annabelle said softly, wincing. "It'll heal." She looked at the black clad girl oddly. "You're human," she said with something like surprise in her hushed voice.   
"Well, of course I am. What, you think only you vampire's can fight?"  
  
"I'm not a..." Sarah started defensively.  
  
"The name's Rashel," the girl said, not paying any attention to Sarah. "Now that I've introduced myself, can we get going," she said, not bothering to try and hide the impatience in her voice.  
  
Following Rashel around the house, Sarah paused, seeing the black limousine parked there, its paint glimmering in the late afternoon sun.  
  
"Circle Daybreak sure likes to travel in style," Annabelle joked weakly from beside Sarah.  
  
Rashel tilted her head towards the limo. "Just get in. We have someone looking for the remaining person here, then we'll go."  
  
"Oh my god," Sarah said, her hand flying up to her mouth. "Blade. He's still in the house." She whirled, starting back for the front door before either Rashel or Annabelle had a chance to react.  
  
"When did she learn to move so fast," Annabelle grumbled, reaching down to rub her ankle.  
  
A bewildered Lupe stepped out of the limo, her eyebrows drawn tightly together. "*What* is going on? We sent Kierlan in there to get Blade. Where is she going."  
  
"Oh, they're soulmates," Annabelle said with something like exasperation. "You're all damned Daybreakers; I'm sure you know how it is." She pushed past Rashel and got into the limo, propping her injured foot onto one of the gray leather seats.  
  
Rashel poked her head into the car, eyes narrowed. "Soulmates?"  
  
Annabelle nodded once, briskly. "Yep."  
  
Sighing heavily, Rashel pulled away to stand back outside, arms crossed over her chest. "I think someone should go in there after her."  
  
"Not it," Lupe said with a small smile, one corner of her lip twitching.  
  
"How did I know," Rashel muttered, twirling her bokken around once for practice before taking a step forward. "Here we go again."  
  
  
******************************************************  
  
Kierlan fueled his energy into a blazing ball of orange witch fire between his palms, letting it loose at the last possible second, hitting a dark haired Night World agent directly in the chest, sending her flying backwards with a shriek.  
  
"On your feet," he said sharply to Blade who was still sprawled where he had landed after the first attack when the bedroom door had burst open.  
  
Blade shook his head slowly as if trying to clear it, his eyes vaguely unfocused, then staggered to his feet, keeping his balance by holding onto the wall. "Who the hell are you?"  
  
Kierlan smiled briefly, switching the glimmering brightness on and off like a light. "Kierlan Harman of Circle Daybreak at your service," he said with a trace of amusement, as though he gave this speech entirely too often and found it entirely too funny. He shrugged his leather jacket back into place and turned to start for the door. "We're out of here."  
  
Kierlan kicked the bedroom door open with a black boot encased foot and started out into the hallway, glancing behind him, just once, to make sure Blade was following.   
  
*So this is the supposed fourth Wild Power,* Kierlan thought in disbelief. *And I thought that the Witch Child was a sorry excuse for a Wild Power. But this one wins hands down. The fourth Wild Power is vampire, a *Lamia* who can't even protect himself from a shapeshifter. This is rich.*  
  
Kierlan started down the stairs, his lip curling in distaste at the pictures of flowers and emerald green pastures hanging from the yellow painted wall. "Very quaint," he murmured.  
  
Then he saw a painting he recognized, Dali's 'The Persistence of Memory.' Kierlan chuckled to himself. *How... apt.*  
  
He took another step, not looking where he was going, when someone ran in to him -- quite literally. Without checking to see who it was, Kierlan relied on instinct and grabbed the person to steady him or her. His hand wrapped around cool feminine fingers, barely having the chance to glance up and take in light blonde hair, parted on the side and eyes the color of aquamarine's, a small nose, high cheek bones and a dimple on the right side of her pale pink lips, before the world exploded into a shimmering rainbow of light and color.  
  
The stairs seemed to melt away and time stood still. It brought the painting to mind; the melting clocks. Time was simply melting away. There was only this light, floaty feeling, as though he were weightless, being lifted away on a cloud of pure air.  
  
And then there was *her.* Her delicate face, the eyes wide and honest, truthful, unblemished by the harshness of the world. A long, swanlike neck, slender body. She wasn't too tall, only about five foot four, but she stood proud and straight giving her a slight air of command.  
  
She blinked at him once, her expression clearly surprised, as though she didn't quite understand. And all the while the rainbow spectrum danced around them like a waterfall of color.   
  
Kierlan's ears were filled with white noise, the crashing sound that waves make, as though there really was a waterfall in this tender, gentle place. "Who are you?" he said, his voice hushed, afraid of breaking the tranquillity.  
Her breath quickened, her chest rising and falling with the extra breath. "Sarah..." she said softly. "Who are *you?*"  
Kierlan smiled, the first truly genuine smile in years. "Your soulmate."  
  
**********************************************************  
  
  
*My... *what,** Sarah's mind raged, the thought bringing her back to reality with a hard thump. Sarah's eyes snapped open, and it was only then that she realized that they had been closed. She looked wildly at this stranger's face, taking in the dark, almond shaped eyes that seemed to shimmer with a hidden light, his glossy black hair, thick and full.   
  
Sarah shook her head, backing up a little, before catching sight of a bewildered Blade, further up the steps, his hazel eyes narrow and thoughtful. Then she pushed past the dark haired stranger, dashing up the few steps to Blade, throwing herself into his arms, the arms she knew so well. A heavy fist of dread settled over her heart when he didn't return the embrace  
  
Her hands caught his plaid shirt, desperately clinging to the green and blue fabric, twisting it in her fingers, willing him to hold her in return. After a moment he did, the puzzled look still in his eyes, but he rested his chin in her golden hair, all the while looking at Kierlan, who had partly turned to follow Sarah's movements.  
  
"There's a limousine from Circle Daybreak waiting outside for us," Sarah said, lifting her head to look at Blade. "We can go now, they'll figure everything out."  
  
Blade stared at her for a moment as though he didn't quite understand what she was saying. Then, slowly, he nodded, following her down the stairs and out of the house, his hand in hers.  
  
Rashel was waiting at the foot of the stairs, the look on her face clearly saying that she had seen the entire thing. "Blade is her soulmate, Kierlan," she said, her lips drawn tightly together so that all the blood had drained from them. "Don't start meddling where you're not wanted."  
  
Kierlan blinked once, shrugging as though he were recovering his composure. "What are you talking about," he said. "I'm not in the mood for your mind games right now."  
  
The corner of Rashel's lip turned up. "What I *mean,*" she said as though she were talking to a two year old, "Is that Sarah, the blonde, and Blade are soulmates. You know what a soulmate is, right Kierlan? God, I would hope so, you've been with Circle Daybreak long enough."  
  
"Blade is not her soulmate," Kierlan said harshly, starting down the stairs himself and nearly shoving Rashel out of the way.  
  
Rashel laughed then, shaking her head in response.  
  
Kierlan turned smoothly, his eyes narrowed and glittering angrily. "Is there a joke I'm missing."  
  
"You're the joke Kierlan. I don't know who you think you are. But you're not irresistible to every girl you see. Especially not one with a soulmate." Rashel slipped her bokken back into her leather boot, going through the front door and out into the fading sunlight.  
  
"Wait a minute," Kierlan said, stopping in the doorway.  
  
Rashel half turned, glancing at him through hooded eyes. "Yes?"  
  
"As much as you truly can't stand me, and I promise the feeling is mutual," Kierlan said, "Be straight with me. Why are you so sure that they're soulmates?"  
  
"The sister told me so," Rashel said with a shrug. "And I'm sure that Blade and Sarah told *her* that. Besides, why do you think they're in a Circle Daybreak Sanctuary? For a long vacation? I don't think so Kierlan. It's because Sarah's a human and Blade's Lamia and they're soulmates; direct violation of Night World Law. Or don't you keep up with the newcomers to Circle Daybreak?"  
  
Kierlan's lips twisted in grim amusement as he slipped his sunglasses back on. "Perfect," he said under his breath. "Just perfect."  
  
"Give up on her Kierlan, you're not going to win Sarah over," Rashel advised before turning and walking to the limo, disappearing inside.  
  
The amusement vanished from Kierlan's face as quickly as it had appeared, making his expression serious, as though his features were carved from stone. "Like hell I won't," he murmured before following Rashel into the limo. 


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four  
  
The ride to Las Vegas was a tense one, Sarah reflected later, looking around her dusty rose bedroom with the redwood furniture in Thierry Descouedres' mansion.   
  
In the limousine, driven by a gas petal happy vampire named Nissa, while Sarah's slender hand had been firmly locked within Blade's larger one, her eyes had been drawn, irresistibly, to Kierlan. She had learned the pensive witch's name when a silvery brown shapeshifter, Lupe, had poked him a few times, asking what was wrong.  
  
Kierlan, in turn, had replied in a tense voice that nothing was wrong and fixed his sunglass covered eyes on the limousine's window, the corner of his lip twitching at odd intervals as though he were busy puzzling something over in his mind. His hands also clenched and unclenched, blood draining from them at one point.  
  
And every time that Sarah felt her gaze drift to Kierlan, she quickly turned her head, resolutely refocusing on Blade and his lighter, blonde good looks, trying to find comfort in his warm hands.   
  
Now, in the safety of this new room, Sarah had more time to consider what had happened without having to worry that someone would ask her what was wrong.   
  
She didn't have anything to unpack, there had been no time to take anything with her, so she settled on a velvet covered chair that was positioned by a large French window. The view consisted of sprawling green grass that had been kept in perfect condition and a midnight blue sky, littered with glimmering pinpricks of light.  
  
"I already have a soulmate," Sarah murmured, her forehead pressed to the cool glass. "I have Blade... why did I feel a soulmate connection with Kierlan..."  
  
She sighed heavily, sitting back and drawing her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. While she definitely didn't know everything there was to know about the Night World, and soulmates, and the Wild Powers, Sarah was pretty sure of one thing.  
  
*No one* had two soulmates.  
  
*So what's going on?*  
  
Sarah squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the cool night air, the sound of an owl in a nearby tree, the stars that shone faintly, fighting against the bright lights of the Las Vegas strip. And it was then, in the midst of creeping shadows and nighttime sounds that her mind wandered.  
  
To Kierlan and those few moments that had seemed more like a lifetime, in a place so far from here. A place with crystal water and rainbows, somewhere she was able to feel weightless and unfettered by the responsibilities of having a Night Worlder as a soulmate.  
  
And she remembered his dark eyes, black like night, on her when she had thrown herself into Blade's arms. Kierlan's face had been almost like a mask, smooth and emotionless, as though no feelings could ever touch him. But his eyes had shattered, like cracked onyx, before they flickered and were just normal black eyes again. And then Sarah had turned, leading Blade away from Kierlan, away from the emotions that had been raging inside of her.  
  
*I need to talk to Kierlan,* Sarah thought suddenly, her eyes snapping open. The thought came from nowhere, from some deep void. But the message, the idea that it was important that she find Kierlan to speak to, beat itself into Sarah's mind. It was impossible to ignore and, for a moment, she didn't really want to ignore it. For a moment, she almost wished that she could go back to that places of sunlight and daydreams, even if it was only for a second.  
  
Sarah stood up from her chair with grim resolve, holding her body stiffly and striding to the door. But when her hand closed around the smooth brass knob, she paused, uncertainty and dread freezing her in place. *And if he laughs at you? If he asks you if you're crazy?*  
  
But the thought that ran beneath all the other mental chatter, the one thing that came through, loud and clear, was, *What if he tells Blade?*  
  
Because that was the one thing that Sarah truly could not take. The look in Blade's hazel eyes, the green flecks darkening, as he wondered and tried to understand why Sarah thought she had a second soulmate. Something in her heart constricted at the thought of the hurt expression on Blade's face if he were to find out that his time as Sarah's one and only was up.  
  
Sarah threw the door open with a sudden burst of adrenaline, fire coursing through her veins, making her leaden feet move forward. She wasn't worried about running into Blade while talking to Kierlan; he was busy talking to Lord Thierry and Lady Hannah so that they could try to figure out if he was, indeed, the fourth Wild Power. Thank goodness for little miracles.   
  
But the difficulty of her task still loomed ahead, dark and heavy as a storm cloud. And that was actually finding Kierlan.  
  
Sarah left the shelter of that pink room and took a few tentative steps towards the end of the hallway before starting down the long, winding staircase of the Descouedres' mansion, her knees actually shaking, her shoulders quivering.   
  
*I think I'm going to be sick.*  
  
Her hand clasped around the shiny black banister on her way down, feet sinking into the plush black and gold carpet. *I don't want to be here, I don't want to be here,* her mind rambled illogically. *I don't want to be looking for Kierlan right now. I want to be safe; safe in Blade's arms where nothing can hurt me. Where I don't have to think about this, where I don't have to worry.*  
  
Sarah shook her head once as she reached the bottom, eyes on her feet. She didn't even realize that someone had seen her come down until he spoke, the sound cool and unrushed.  
  
"You looking for someone?" the soft, masculine voice asked.   
  
Sarah looked up in surprise, startled to see a tall blonde man, his thick hair tousled as though he had just woken up. He smiled at her lazily, leaning against the side of the banister, just watching, waiting.  
  
Sarah swallowed hard, willing her mouth to work. "Maybe," she said stupidly, something deep in the pit of her gut making her suspicious.   
  
The man smiled again, raising his eyebrows at her. "Maybe? You look lost. Anything I can help you with? My specialty is helping damsels in distress."  
  
Sarah studied him for a moment, the suspicion in her stomach becoming a small flicker of amusement that spread outward, until one corner of her lip was turning up in a smile. "Is that so? I'm Sarah Strange, I was just brought in here from one of the sanctuaries."  
  
He laughed, an almost musical chuckle, and looked at her through slanted blue eyes. "With Blade and Annabelle Redfern, right? I'm one of their cousins, Ash." He held out a long fingered hand.  
  
Sarah hesitated, eyeing his hand, then looking up and noticing something strange. Only a moment before his eyes had been a blue as dark as sapphires, now they were the pale green of a peridot. She blinked once and then they were golden. She blinked again and his eyes were their original color, dark blue.  
  
Ash grinned, withdrawing his hand. "Something wrong?"   
Narrowing her eyes at him, Sarah said, "No, nothing." She cleared her throat. "Actually, maybe you can help me. I'm looking for someone named Kierlan. About your height, dark hair and eyes, leather jacket?"  
  
Ash gave her a reproachful look. "You sure that you want to be looking for Kierlan?"  
  
"Yes..." Sarah said, a little uncertain at first. Then something, deep down, decided and she said more firmly, "Yes, I am. Do you know where he is?"  
  
"I do," Ash said, saying nothing more and remaining perfectly still.  
  
Sarah could feel impatience bubbling up and she tilted her head towards Ash challengingly. "Could you tell me where he is?"  
  
Ash smiled then, blindingly bright. "He's off on a mission for Circle Daybreak. He should be back tomorrow, or maybe the day after, I'm not quite sure." As his eyes shifted color to an innocent hazel, specked with green and gold, the exact color of Blade's eyes, he asked, "Isn't Blade your soulmate?"  
  
Sarah, who had been ready to start back up the stairs, paused. It took her a moment to find her voice. "Yes, he is," she said softly, not meeting Ash's eyes, scared that if she did he would know everything that she was trying to keep hidden.  
  
Ash shook his head and patted Sarah's hand that was still gripping the railing. "Well then, welcome to the family. You'll have to meet mine sometime," he said absently, glancing at his watch.  
  
Sarah was about to ask 'his what?' But Ash was going on. "My Mary-Lynnette's coming for a visit in exactly one month, two days, twelve hours, fourteen minutes and twenty-one... make that twenty seconds," he said proudly.  
  
Sarah could feel her face twisting into a skeptical expression, and then she got it. His soulmate. "That's... very nice," she said slowly.  
  
"I think so." Ash shrugged. "Well, anyway, good luck with finding Kierlan," he said with a wink. "And with Blade." He waved slightly at her, wiggling his fingers, then sauntered off, disappearing down one of the adjoining hallways.  
  
As Sarah watched him go, she let out a breath, shutting her eyes briefly to steady herself. *He doesn't *know* anything,* she told herself sternly. *There's no reason to get worked up. He's playing with you.*  
  
And that was what was bothering Sarah. Ash had seemed harmless enough; his expression was amiable and, though his entire persona was cat-like, it reminded her more of a playful kitten than of a stalking jungle cat. But somewhere in the depths of those color changing eyes was the sharp edge of a knife; something that was keen and cunning. Something that knew how to fight dirty and often won doing so.   
  
Sarah shuddered and began backing up the staircase, intending to return to her room where she could shut the lights off and just think. But her feet barely had time to move before she heard a familiar voice calling her name.  
  
"Sarah!"  
  
She turned, smiling automatically when she saw Blade, his cuts and bruises already cared for, the gash in his forehead covered with a white gauze bandage.   
  
"Hey, wait up," he said, a wide smile on his face.  
  
"Blade," she murmured, raising her eyes and returning the smile. "They've been taking care of you."  
  
Blade laughed and touched his forehead gingerly. "I think a little too well. It's no big deal, it'll be healed by morning."  
  
"That's good," Sarah said distractedly, playing with one of the buttons on her gray sweater. "How did things go with Lord Thierry and Lady Hannah?"  
  
"Well, luckily, I convinced them to let me stay here, with you, until we could actually prove whether or not I'm the fourth Wild Power. Although, I tried to tell them that they have the wrong guy. But they can be as persistent as those Night World agents when they want to be."  
  
Blade laughed and Sarah forced another smile in response. "Did you tell them about Maya Redfern being alive?" Sarah said quietly, coming down the steps to meet Blade and take his hand in her own. There, that was nice. The warm tingles that shot up and down her arm made her feel content and calm the shuddering fear that had been running up and down her spine.  
  
Blade nodded. "Yeah. Lady Hannah took it surprisingly well. And Lord Thierry said that it wasn't anything he hadn't been expecting." Blade chuckled. "They're nice people, a little stuffy, but nice."  
  
"I'm sure they are," Sarah murmured, clenching his hand tightly. "Look, Blade," she said suddenly, without even meaning to. "I need to talk to you about something. And I wouldn't bring it up if I didn't think that it was important. But I do, and it is. And, well, we just need to talk is all." She paused to catch her breath and steady her racing heart which was thumping painfully in her chest.  
  
Blade caught her arms, turning her gently to look at him. "Sarah, what is it? What's wrong?" He reached up and brushed the side of her face lightly, fingertips grazing her cheekbones. "Did someone hurt you?"  
  
"No... nothing like that." Sarah shook her head, pulling back slightly so that Blade's hand fell away from her face. She appreciated his support, his concern, but sometimes...  
  
Sometimes Sarah felt like a glass figurine, fragile and constantly in danger of being broken. And entirely too protected by Blade who seemed to believe that unless he kept constant watch over her that she *would* break. There were times that she just wanted to take care of herself and to have Blade understand that need.  
  
"It's just about something that happened. Something that I just don't understand and I thought that maybe you could clear it up for me. And you just needed to know about it anyway."  
  
Sarah met Blade's eyes. They looked hurt and bewildered at the way she had jumped away from his touch, and she reached out to take his hand, squeezing his fingers. "Can we just go somewhere and talk?"  
  
Slowly, painstakingly, Blade nodded. "I think there's a library on this floor. It's quiet there, I'm sure no one would mind if we used it."  
  
"All right," Sarah said, following him across the black marble floor and down a dimly lit hallway, into a well furnished library. The walls, from floor to ceiling were stocked with books of different sizes and shapes, with various brightly colored bindings. A stone fireplace and a set of tall windows that led out to a balcony were the only parts of the walls not covered with novels, and in front of the roaring fireplace were two large, plush, burgundy leather chairs.  
  
Sarah released Blade's hand as they each settled into one of those chairs. Sarah drew one leg underneath her body and stared at the flames in the fireplace for a moment, the bright orange blaze crackling with pent up energy. Glancing to her right, she saw that Blade had been watching the same fire, the light flickering in his eyes and shadowing the planes of his face.  
  
"What's going on Sarah?" he said quietly, not looking at her. "I can tell something's bothering you, bothering you terribly. But for the first time, I just don't know what it is."  
  
Sarah's throat closed up then. And she realized that, as much as she wanted to stand on her own two feet at times, Blade loved her, unconditionally and without questions. That he knew her better than anyone else ever could. He was her soulmate, the other half of the coin.   
  
But suddenly there was a third side to that coin, a side that Sarah had never even known existed. It was such a strange concept and, just like she couldn't picture a three sided coin, Sarah couldn't figure out where Kierlan fit into her life.  
  
Sarah stood, pacing in front of the fire and wandering towards a shelf of books, her fingers running over the different volumes. She studied them, tears springing to life in the corners of her eyes. "It's just... in the house, something happened. Something very strange."  
  
She turned and looked at Blade, her expression softening. "You're my soulmate Blade and I love you. And then, in the house..."  
  
Sarah paused as the door the library swung open, revealing Rashel who was now barely recognizable dressed in normal blue jeans, white long sleeved shirt, and canvas sneakers.   
  
"Hey, Ash said that he thought he saw you down here," she said to Sarah. "Anyway, we're having a Circle Daybreak meeting upstairs now if you want to come. It's a good way to meet all the people who live here."  
  
Blue eyes widening slightly, Sarah said, "Yeah, sure. That sounds nice."  
  
Blade was nodding in agreement next to her as he stood. He reached out, taking Sarah's hand and kissing the fingertips lightly. "We'll talk later, all right?"  
  
Sarah smiled grimly, trying to put some emotion of happiness into it for Blade's sake. "Sure. That's fine."  
  
Rashel waved at them impatiently, dark green eyes fixating on Blade and Sarah for a moment. "Well then, lets go. Thea gets rattled when people walk in late," she said as though either one of them knew who Thea was.   
  
Rashel turned, leaving the library with that perfectly controlled, stealthy walk. She didn't take the time to glance behind her, simply assuming that they would follow.  
  
Blade and Sarah glanced at each other and shrugged in unison before following the dark haired girl out of the library and through the mansion. 


	5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five  
  
Sarah looked around the surprisingly well lit den filled with strangers lounging on beige and brown colored furniture. They all looked about her age, but Sarah had learned a long time ago that appearances could be deceiving.   
  
Habit made her hang slightly behind Blade, hiding behind his shoulder as her eyes roamed over the crowded room. There were about twelve people already there, staring back, their faces openly curious.   
  
Blade nudged Sarah with one elbow and murmured, "That's Thierry."  
  
Sarah was startled when she realized that he was pointing to a young, good looking man with white blonde hair brushed back from his face and piercing black eyes. He was wearing a pair of khakis and a white polo shirt but somehow, even in that casual attire he had a air of command, of authority.  
  
Finishing her survey of the room, Sarah noticed Annabelle sitting in one corner between two guys. One looked as though he'd be very tall if he stood. He had a thin lanky frame and sandy blonde hair that fell into his eyes. His smile was genuine and he seemed good-natured and fully comfortable even though, if Sarah was judging correctly, he was a human.   
  
The other man definitely wasn't as tall as the first, but he was just as handsome, if not more so. His black hair was glossy and cut short, his eyes a black so dark that the pupil wasn't visible. He smiled vaguely in Blade's and Sarah's direction and, while the gesture didn't put her particularly at ease, there was something trustworthy about him.   
  
Sarah smiled in return, finally stepping out of Blade's shadow, and took a seat in a soft, light brown arm chair by a beige curtained window, her hands clasped together in her lap. Blade settled on the arm of her chair, balancing somewhat precariously on the edge but remaining at ease.  
  
"You must be Blade and Sarah," a girl with wheat colored hair said.  
  
Sarah tilted her head to the side, studying the girl's face which was blemished by a scar that ran down the side of her face, beneath her left cheekbone, the color of strawberry ice. The eyes that looked back at Sarah as the girl studied her were slate gray.  
  
Then Sarah let out a breath, recognizing the blonde girl. Lady Hannah.  
  
Hannah stood, extending her hand. "Welcome to Circle Daybreak's main   
headquarters."   
  
Blade reached out his own hand and shook; Sarah repeated the gesture a moment later.  
  
Hannah laughed softly. "This isn't a very big meeting place, we know, but we figure that no one will ever suspect this way." She glanced at Nissa, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor, then back to the newcomers. "I trust your ride here was pleasant?"  
  
"Not with Nissa driving," Rashel muttered from the doorway where she was still standing, arms crossed. But her lips curved up in a smile, making it perfectly clear that she found Nissa's driving more humorous than anything else.  
  
There were a few titters from around the room and Nissa gave Rashel a good-natured smirk. "My driving beats Nilsson's any day," Nissa said, defensively holding up her hands.  
  
Hannah just shook her head, covering her smile with a cough and sat back down next to Thierry.   
  
Lord Thierry was watching Nissa with open amusement curling his lips. "I think if everyone would cease conversation about the ride here and introduce themselves this meeting would go much more smoothly," he said, waving a hand to the person closest to him.  
  
It was a girl with bright red curls who had just returned to her seat after patting Nissa on the shoulder in mock sympathy. She smiled sheepishly and bit her lower lip in concentration. "Well, my name's Poppy. I'm eternally sixteen, I enjoy long walks on the beach, candlelight dinners, and..."  
  
*************************************  
  
And that was how the meeting started. Sarah had stayed and chatted with the other Daybreak members afterward, marveling at their stories, each one seeming more unbelievable than the last.  
  
The redhead, Poppy, had told her the story of how she had become a vampire after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The disease had been incurable by modern medicine so her long time secret love, and soulmate, James, had changed her to save her life.  
  
In the aftermath, Poppy had to leave her entire family, her mother, stepfather, and twin brother, behind. But, as Poppy told Sarah cheerfully, she was going to visit her twin brother, Phil, within the next few weeks.  
  
Likewise, it seemed as though a lot of the Circle Daybreak members were going back to visit loved ones that they hadn't seen in a while. Ash, the vampire from before, was still counting down the seconds until his soulmate arrived for another visit. Thea, a blonde witch who was soulmates with the sandy haired man named Eric, was looking forward to being reunited with her cousin, Blaise. And Nissa regretfully informed Sarah that she wouldn't be around for much longer to chauffeur her around because she was scheduled to return to her team at another sanctuary to help look after one of the Wild Powers, a girl named Iliana.  
  
The remaining sets of soulmates, Gillian and David, Rashel and Quinn, and Thierry and Hannah, had explained their stories. Gillian was a lost witch, David was a human. Quinn had been one of the most feared vampires, Rashel had been the most feared vampire hunter.  
  
And everyone knew the story of Lady Hannah and Lord Thierry. About Maya Redfern visiting Hannah, life after life, pretending to be Thierry, and, in the end, killing her before her seventeenth birthday. But in this life, Hannah had beaten the cycle, celebrating her seventeenth birthday with her one true love, Thierry.  
  
The news that Maya was supposedly still alive had the graceful girl a little on edge, but her smile remained sweet, even when the conversation turned to Maya and the extra precautions that would be taken to protect Hannah, Blade, the mansion, and its inhabitants from any surprise attacks.  
  
What made Sarah a little worried was that she and Blade had never gone through any big disaster like the other sets of soulmates had. Sure, they had suffered from the consequences of a human and a Lamia, a Redfern Lamia no less, being paired. But, overall, it was nothing compared to what these other people, these people who, in Sarah's eyes were almost inhumanly brave, had gone through.  
  
It made her wonder if something was about to happen.  
  
And now, hours after the meeting had broken up, Sarah was roaming the halls, one hand trailing listlessly along the glossy wall. Her feet dragged, sometimes tickled by the thick carpet, other times feeling as heavy as leaden weights.  
  
Although her eyelids were drooping, Sarah realized that she couldn't sleep. The different thoughts that raced through her mind had her almost shaking, so nervous that she felt as though she were standing on the edge of a precipice with no where to go but down. Even after spending so much time with people like her, she still didn't have any idea what to do about her problem; what to do about Kierlan.  
  
Sarah started downstairs and headed for the library she had been in earlier. She was inexplicably drawn to what she knew would be a room with a crackling fire, warm and comforting. The lights were still just as dim and once again Sarah found solace in the cool shadows.   
  
She went to the doors that led to the balcony and opened them, her hands closing around the shiny brass handles, taking a step out before realizing that someone was already there, leaning on the railing and staring up at the sky.  
  
"Oh," she said, vaguely startled. "I'm sorry." Taking a step backwards, Sarah began to close the doors before the other person turned and moved into view.  
  
Sarah froze with the doors half closed, simply looking at Kierlan. A different Kierlan, one without sunglasses, one whose hair was mussed, his expression thoughtful. "You don't have to go," he said softly, looking at her without breaking eye contact. "Come outside," Kierlan offered with a sweep of one arm.  
  
Sarah swallowed hard, pushing the doors open again and stepping out onto the balcony, her stride uncertain. "I thought that you weren't going to be back for... a day or two."  
  
Kierlan looked at her, vaguely amused. "And who told you that?"  
  
His scrutiny was making Sarah nervous, but she set her shoulders and looked at him boldly. "That guy, Ash."  
  
Kierlan snorted. "Ash huh? You shouldn't believe everything he tells you." As an afterthought, he added, "Besides, I got back early."  
  
Sarah said nothing, painfully aware of the silence. Then something kicked in, some hidden instinct that told her to finish up this conversation, and fast. "I suppose I should thank you," she said, her eyes dropping and studying her bare feet.  
  
"For?"  
  
Looking up, Sarah said, "Helping Blade out of the house."  
  
Kierlan's breath let out in a whoosh, his eyes narrowing, almost as though he were expecting a different answer. "You're... welcome." He turned away, elbows resting on the railing.  
  
Sarah moved closer to him before she could even tell herself that what she was doing was crazy, touching the sleeve of his shirt, making sure that she didn't make contact with his skin. "You're angry..."  
  
Kierlan turned in one swift motion, catching Sarah's hand in his, cool fingers wrapping around her own. "Not at you."   
  
He said it just as Sarah felt a jolt; a jolt that sparked between their intertwined hands, pushing her closer to Kierlan. "What is this," she whispered, looking up at him, eyes wide and frightened. "I don't understand..."  
  
"Shh," Kierlan said, hushed. He bowed his head and then his lips brushed hers softly.   
  
"Kierlan, no," Sarah said, the words taking shape against his lips, already shaking her head.  
  
He released her hands and lifted his fingers to either side of her face, stroking her cheekbones with his thumbs, brushing away a tear that hung, suspended, from her eyelashes like a shining crystal.   
  
"This is meant to be," Kierlan said, looking at her solemnly, those dark eyes softening. "You know it is."  
  
A sob caught in Sarah's throat and she dropped her head, unable to support its weight any longer. She willed herself to take a step back but found that she didn't have the strength to. A fine tremor had started somewhere in the pit of her stomach, growing and intensifying so that her entire body was shaking with fear and desire. "We can't. Kierlan, Blade... he's..."  
  
"I heard from Rashel," Kierlan said, slipping his arms behind Sarah's back and pulling her close to him again, his fingers lacing and creating a belt to hold her to him. "But if he's your soulmate, Sarah, like you say he is, then what am I? What is it that's happening between us. Don't tell me that you don't feel this... this pull. If he's your soulmate then why does this feel so right?"  
  
Sarah shook her head, blonde hair spilling into her eyes and obstructing her vision. But the shake wasn't in negation, it was simply defeat. "I feel it," she said quietly, voice tremulous. Her breath was coming faster, her chest rising and falling as she tried to compose herself. "I feel it, Kierlan, and it feels right. But we can't do anything about it.   
We *can't.* It would kill Blade, it would. And... Kierlan, I love him."  
  
Kierlan released his hold on her, his hands dropping to his sides as he stepped back, a rift of air rushing between them, leaving Sarah cold and empty. "I'm sorry," she whispered, looking away.   
  
"So am I," Kierlan said with something like finality in his voice. He turned and started back into the library but stopped at the door, looking back at Sarah. "You only get one soulmate, Sarah. Most people don't choose to give that person up," he said with a shake of his head.  
  
Sarah watched him go, helpless tears welling up in her eyes and spilling over her numb cheeks. "But I'm not..." she said softly, her voice cracking. "I'm just choosing one over the other."  
  
She waited a few minutes, blinking back salty tears, losing the battle. The hot wetness spilled over her cheeks, dripping from her chin. Burying her face in her hands, Sarah sank to her knees, hugging them to her, crying softly, a feeling of unbearable loss settling over her.  
  
*There's no winning this,* Sarah realized with a start, the thought so sudden and clear that it made her look up In the velvety night sky, one gleaming star caught her eye; the North Star. It burned brighter than any other, its shimmering brilliance blinking and blurring through her tears.  
  
The thought came back and she squinted, the world collapsing in on that one star, as though it were the center of the universe. *There's no winning. Either way I'll lose one of them.*  
  
There was a pull in Sarah's chest and she fought back the ironic notion that she finally knew what it felt like to have a broken heart. "I love them both," she said softly. "How could I choose just one."  
  
"And how could I not," Sarah finished for herself before any of her inner voices could creep up and question her. Sorrow crept into the words and into the core of her soul. "I will always be missing a part of me, no matter what I do."  
  
And the North Star was still there, winking at her like a conspirator.  
  
*Two people are one thing to me.*  
  
She looked away, standing up at last, struggling to keep her shaky legs underneath her as she tried not to wobble. The first few steps were difficult, as though she were a toddler and learning to walk all over again.  
  
Sarah moved through the glass doors, shutting them behind her, then continued through the library, out into the hallway, up the stairs. Without seeing or taking anything in, Sarah found herself in front of her bedroom door, the bright golden knob dull compared to her pain. She opened it slowly, trying to keep the hinges from creaking and waking anyone else. The last thing she needed was for someone to come out of their room and ask what she was doing up at this strange hour, so close to dawn.  
  
Shutting the door behind her quietly, Sarah nearly ran the few steps to her four poster bed, flinging herself on top of the covers, not even bothering to undress. She hugged her pillow close to her, burying her face in the softness of feathers and cotton, as though she could keep everything from escaping if she just couldn't see.  
  
"Everything will look better in the morning," she said, her voice muffled in the pink pillowcase.  
  
Sarah sniffled once, a teardrop falling and marking the satin before her eyelids shut, closing out the world and the troubles that had piled onto one another in just the past twelve hours.  
  
And, just as dawn and daybreak began creeping around the edges of the bedroom curtains, Sarah's breath evened, her tears dried, and she fell asleep. 


	6. Chapter Six

Chapter Six  
  
Kierlan was standing near the foot of the winding staircase, his arms crossed over his chest, his expression moody.   
  
Late afternoon sunlight drifted through a black painted window pane, bits of dust sailing through on a glistening sunbeam, reflecting rainbow colors off of the shiny marble floor.   
  
Kierlan squinted out the window, imagining that he could see the first signs of a sunset. The fuchsia at the edge of the horizon, a bright tangerine creating a second layer right above it. The pale blue sky slowly being replaced by the bright colors that signaled the beginning of the end of the day.   
  
*It's always calmest before the storm,* he thought with a wry smile before turning his back to the image his mind was painting for him.  
  
Kierlan, no longer having fancies of sunsets and the deeper meaning behind them to keep him occupied, switched mental gears almost immediately. This drama with Sarah had to be the most absurd thing he had ever heard of. His soulmate, his *soulmate,* was in love with someone else.  
  
Kierlan shut his eyes briefly, ignoring the sharp flash of pain that shot through his heart at the thought of Sarah being in anyone else's arms; at the picture of anyone else kissing her lips, pink as a rose petal, soft as satin.  
  
And to make things even worse, *If they can get any worse,* Kierlan reflected, the guy his soulmate was in love with was supposedly the fourth Wild Power. Or at least that was the news that everyone had been spreading around the mansion in the past day. He had his doubts though. In his opinion, Blade simply didn't have what it took to prevent the end of the world.  
  
"I'd bet my life on the fact that they have the wrong guy," Kierlan muttered ungraciously.  
  
Kierlan hadn't seen either Sarah or Blade all day and he wasn't entirely sure if that was a good or a bad thing. On the one hand, he didn't think that he was up to facing Sarah yet. Every one of his nerves was on edge, and every thought of her was laced with razor sharpness that stung his eyes and twisted his gut. Seeing her in person would magnify the sick feeling a thousand times.  
  
And if he saw Blade...  
  
Kierlan had the feeling that seeing the Lamia, the guy that his soulmate was convinced was her one and only, would send him straight over the edge. He knew without a doubt that he'd do something that, while maybe he wouldn't regret it, Sarah would never forgive him for.  
  
Kierlan glanced up, seeing Rashel walk by, her head held high, dark hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. She noticed him and slowed, her lips drawing into a smirk. "Took you long enough to get up," she said, holding up her right wrist so that Kierlan could see her digital watch.  
  
"I got back late last night," Kierlan said shortly, knowing that, in all truthfulness, he hadn't slept at all the night before. Instead, every time he closed his eyes, he saw an image of *her,* Sarah, burned into his memory.   
  
But Rashel couldn't possibly know that.  
  
"Does that entitle you to sleeping until five?" Then Rashel shrugged, her shoulders rising and falling in one quick motion, already disregarding the conversation as though it bored her. "Anyway, have you seen Sarah today? I was up early so I saw her go into her room just as early... or late. I don't suppose you had anything to do with that."  
  
Kierlan laughed shortly, averting his gaze, his right hand clenching into a tight fist at his side. "Didn't you tell me not to get involved with her?"  
  
Rashel arched an eyebrow as she placed her hands on her hips. "Since when do you listen to anything I say?"  
  
"Since you started giving out useful advice." Kierlan pulled a pair of sunglasses from his pocket, slipping them over his eyes, and turned to walk away.  
  
"Where are you going?" Rashel asked, cocking her head at him suspiciously.  
  
"Out."  
  
"Thierry wanted to talk to us about keeping an eye on Blade," Rashel said, tapping her foot on the marble floor rhythmically.  
  
"Pity. I have a previous engagement." Kierlan shrugged his leather jacket into place indifferently. But he had stopped walking while speaking to Rashel, without turning to look at her, his shoulders tensing.  
  
"Thierry's not going to be happy."  
Kierlan turned around fully at last, swiveling on his heel while simultaneously pulling his sunglasses off with one hand, meeting Rashel's eyes head on. "I do enough for Circle Daybreak that he should be able to overlook this."  
  
Rashel shrugged noncommittally. "Whatever you say. Well, if nothing else, have a good time thinking about her."  
  
Kierlan's eyes narrowed dangerously and he took a menacing step forward. "What?"  
  
"Thinking about her. Sarah. That is what you're going to go do now isn't it? Mope over the one girl that you just couldn't win over with your stunningly good looks?" Rashel didn't flinch from Kierlan's gaze, it only served to fuel her comments a little more. "God, Kierlan, I hope that you get over her. Falling for Sarah is really ruining your arrogance."  
  
The hand that Kierlan had clamped around the black wire frames of his sunglasses tightened convulsively, snapping them in two at the nose bridge.  
  
Rashel's eyes dropped in something like surprise to the broken glasses before returning her gaze to Kierlan's face, studying him. "Don't tell me you're actually serious about her, Kierlan."  
  
"She's my soulmate," Kierlan snapped before he could stop himself, instantly regretting the words. Anything Rashel could use against him, she would.  
  
"Kierlan..."  
  
"For once I'm being completely honest with you. Sarah is my soulmate." Each word was perfectly enunciated, the consonants bitten off savagely, as though Kierlan were trying to make what he was saying hit home with Rashel.  
  
"*Blade* is her soulmate," Rashel said in exasperation.  
  
"Blade is not her soulmate, I am." Kierlan smiled suddenly, the glimmer of white reflecting intense pain. "But it doesn't seem to matter much, she's chosen him." He shrugged his shoulders, the smile dropping from his lips. "So that's the end of that. If you'll excuse me."  
  
"Kierlan wait," Rashel said, stepping forward and moving around him, holding a hand up to stop him.   
  
Kierlan paused, looking at the green eyed vampire hunter, his eyebrows drawn tightly together, watching her, waiting.  
  
"You really do love her, don't you?" Rashel shook her head. "If I hadn't seen this with my own two eyes I never would have believed it, but for some reason what you're saying sounds sincere." She smiled tentatively, as though she were a bit uncomfortable, a feeling Rashel wasn't accustomed to. "Kierlan, I'm sorry that it didn't work out for you and Sarah, but..."  
  
Kierlan gritted his teeth, the fact that Rashel felt pity -- pity! -- for him sending a blazing rush of anger through his veins. He grabbed her hand roughly, squeezing her slender fingers in his harsh grip. "Don't tell me that you're *sorry,*" he said, his voice icy. "I don't need your sympathy."  
  
Rashel looked at Kierlan for a moment, as though the words he was saying didn't quite register in her mind. Then she blinked, glancing down once at her fingers, the tips turning red with blood, before wrenching her hand away. "I won't make that mistake again," she said, bending her fingers to get the blood going. "And you wonder why Sarah chose Blade."  
  
Rashel walked past Kierlan, almost shoving him out of the way, and stalked up the stairs, every step showing how furious she was.  
  
Kierlan watched her go, his hands curling and uncurling at his sides, the adrenaline rush still pumping in his veins. Then he stopped, his eyes shutting for a moment, taking a deep breath. He had to admit that, even for him, he had acted like a complete jerk.  
  
And, in the end, the one thought that ran through his mind was what would Sarah think if she saw him behave that way. Kierlan couldn't honestly say that he was completely sorry for the way he had acted towards Rashel, but he knew that he would be forced to beg for Sarah's forgiveness if Rashel ever told her what had happened.  
  
Kierlan frowned, starting towards the door, tossing his ruined sunglasses on the windowsill for Nilsson or one of the other servants in the mansion to pick up, and pulled open the heavy mahogany door, its sides framed with an intricate display of black flowers. He closed the door behind him with a thud and walked around the side of the mansion to his motorcycle, a sleek black number that purred like a kitten and got him everywhere he wanted to go with no problem.  
  
On his way, he trampled through a bed of butter yellow tulips, their petals waving in the faint breeze. He crushed the tallest one under the heel of his boot, the stem snapping, the flower curling under the black leather, flattening and dying.  
  
The corner of his lip turned up as he swung one leg over the motorcycle. He didn't bother with a helmet, it only annoyed him. Placing his hands on the handles, he revved the machine, the gears coming to life under his fingertips, and leaned forward, taking off down the smoothly paved driveway.  
  
Halfway down, Kierlan passed by Sarah, who looked up, startled at the sound of the motorcycle. She was half knelt, holding what looked like a watering can made of pale green metal, her fingers wrapped around the handle. Meeting his eyes for the briefest moment, Sarah looked away, kneeling back down into the flower bed, tending to and caring for the blossoms, looking as though she enjoyed it, as though it were something that she did on a regular basis.  
  
Continuing down the driveway, not stopping, and making a conscious effort not to look back, Kierlan was suddenly sorry for the tulip, the same color as the silky hair that cascaded down Sarah's back, that was splayed across the bottom of his boot.  
  
  
*******************************************************  
  
  
Sarah watched Kierlan's motorcycle disappear from view with a slow roar from the corner of her eye, barely noticing the Bleeding Hearts that she was drowning with a steady stream of water.   
  
She stood up slowly when she couldn't see his tail lights anymore, brushing dirt from her hands before touching her lips.   
  
Sarah had slept soundly after crying herself to sleep, the tears finally overtaking her so that she had to succumb to slumber. But the lump in her throat still hadn't gone away. And along with that was a very empty, very hollow feeling in the center of her chest. It was difficult to breathe around, as though the hole was blocking the air that she tried to inhale.  
  
Sarah shook her head, trying to erase the memories, trying to make everything fade away. But, deep down, she knew that it wasn't that simple.   
  
Starting up the driveway, Sarah clutched the green watering can to her chest, depositing it on the front porch, before going inside, suddenly feeling very small and insignificant in this large, majestic foyer with its gleaming marble and lacquer.  
  
Sarah let out a breath and began the long walk up the staircase. Seeing Kierlan had awoken a new found strength somewhere in her, making her certain that she had to finish the talk she had started with Blade the night before. Except this time, there was a lot more to tell, a lot more to confess. And a lot more of a reason for Blade to feel truly betrayed.  
  
Sarah didn't stop until she reached Blade's room, taking another deep breath that she liked to imagine was cleansing, although how she could ever hope to cleanse herself of the past day was beyond her.   
  
Pausing with her fist halfway raised to knock on his door, it swung open, revealing a disheveled and bleary eyed Blade.  
  
He didn't look surprised in the slightest to see her and he even smiled wryly, gesturing for her to come in.  
  
"What happened to you," Sarah said, her eyes widening slightly at the sight of him. "You look like you haven't slept at all."  
  
Blade laughed shortly, his face twisting in an unnatural way, his eyes glazed over and dazed. "I haven't."  
  
Sarah stepped into the room hesitantly, sitting on the edge of his bed, the flannel sheets and striped comforter rumpled. She folded her hands in her lap. "We have to finish talking, Blade."  
  
He shook his head, shrugging his shoulders in something like defeat, closing the door and leaning against it, watching her carefully. Blade crossed his arms over his chest. "So talk."  
  
Sarah felt something inside her snap and the sinking feeling in her stomach got worse. It was like she was plummeting from the edge of a cliff with no way to stop herself and no hope of rescue. But before she knew what she was doing, Sarah heard the words pouring from her mouth. "It started back at the house..."  
  
"I know," Blade said shortly, as though he couldn't bear to listen to her voice any longer, straightening and averting his gaze to the window, his expression hostile and foreign to her.  
  
"You... what?" Confusion burst into flame inside of Sarah, sending her hurtling to her feet, looking at Blade in disbelief.  
  
"About Kierlan, I know." Blade said the words simply and without a single drop of emotion, as though he were completely detached from the situation, as though nothing could touch him.   
  
Sarah felt her eyes squeeze shut, her heart pounding. "You know?" she whispered, the tears already forming behind closed eyelids.  
  
She had imagined what it would be like if Blade ever found out about what had happened between her and Kierlan. And though those scenarios had been terrifying and ultimately heartbreaking, they didn't even come close to the panic of the real thing.  
  
Blade, her Blade, the one who had held her and kissed her, the one who had reassured her that everything would be fine when they had to retreat to a Daybreak Sanctuary, who had promised that he would never leave her, that they would always be together, was a stranger to her now.   
  
Those eyes, the light brown ones with the flecks of emerald green and golden yellow that caught rays of light, were utterly devoid of life, as though he weren't really seeing anything. He moved like he was just going through the motions, relying on memory as to how he was supposed to function rather than by reacting to the things around him.  
  
Then, the bubble of fear, of dread, popped, leaving her deflated as Sarah realized the only way Blade could have found out.  
  
Kierlan.  
  
Sarah set her jaw, betrayal creeping over her, making her skin tingle, before she even had a chance to react. He had told Blade, most likely to get back at her, even after telling her that he cared for her.  
  
She had her arms wrapped around Blade's waist before she realized that she had even moved across the room, her face buried into his shoulderblades, silently willing him to turn to her and return the embrace. "It wasn't like that. Whatever you think, it *wasn't.*"  
  
"How many different ways could it have been Sarah?" Blade turned but pulled away from Sarah, the stony expression on his face crumbling at last, the raw emotion and jagged pain evident in the core of his eyes.  
  
Sarah felt a catch in her throat. This was what she had done. She had inflicted this pain on the one person she was supposed to care about more than anyone or anything. She had treated this gift like dirt as though having found her soulmate was something that wasn't worth a second thought.  
  
A nagging thought crept into the back of her mind. Something about Kierlan and his feelings, but she brushed at it desperately, focusing on Blade's words because he was still speaking, his expression a perfect picture of anguish.  
  
"If you had just told me, told me anything, I would have believed you no matter what you said. But instead, you had to let me find out like... like *that.* How could you do this. To me? To us?"  
  
"Blade, listen to me," Sarah said, desperately reaching out to him, her fingers clawing at air. "I told him that I love *you.* You, not him. You have to believe that."  
  
"I don't know what to believe anymore Sarah," Blade said with a shake of his head. A strand of blonde hair fell into his eyes, making him seem very young all of a sudden. "Maybe you should go now." He rubbed at his temples tiredly. "I need to get some sleep."  
  
Blade stepped away even further from Sarah's reach and turned his back on her, pulling his shirt over his head before going over to his bed and lying down, face smothered by his pillows. "Just go."  
  
Sarah nodded silently, taking a deep, tremulous breath, before turning away and going to the door. She couldn't blame Blade for this, everything that had happened was her fault, but still, she couldn't help that tiny flicker of thought that told her that the least he could do was listen to what she had to say instead of relying on what Kierlan must have told him.  
  
*And whatever Kierlan *did* tell Blade must have been a thousand times worse than what really happened,* she thought with a sigh.  
  
Sarah stopped to look back at Blade just as she was stepping out, biting down hard on her lip. So hard that she tasted blood. It didn't look like words were going to make this better, but she still had to say this final thing; he deserved that much.  
  
"I'm sorry, Blade," Sarah whispered, shutting the door behind her, the sound of wood closing on wood echoing down the hallway. 


	7. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven  
  
The doorbell rang in the middle of the night, the metallic chimes creeping around the sharp corners of the dim hallways, reaching out to everyone in the mansion and stirring them out of sleep.  
  
Sarah blinked once, stretching her arms above her head, and pushed herself off her bed, disorientated. For a moment, she was convinced that she was only dreaming and that she had just imagined the ringing doorbell. That if she'd just close her eyes and allow herself to drift off again she'd find that the doorbell never really rang after all. Then her mind cleared.  
  
It was a little late for anyone to be making a social call. Sarah frowned, rubbing at her eyes, as she plucked a white sweatshirt Circle Daybreak had provided her with off the back of a chair. Taking a moment to slip it over her tank top and plaid pajama bottoms, she padded to the door.  
  
Sarah pulled the shiny handle cautiously, peeking out into the hallway, still blinking the sleep out of her eyes. Vaguely surprised to see a few people milling around, looking just as confused as she was, she frowned, certain now that she hadn't been dreaming. But that certainty only made way for confusion.  
  
A short girl with a cap of white blonde hair was walking over to Sarah, her violet eyes wide, her thin lips pressed together tightly. Skimming through her memories, Sarah came up with a name. Gillian.   
  
She smiled at the spooked girl. "What's going on?" Sarah asked, looking up and down the hallway.  
  
Gillian shrugged, perplexed, as she tugged at a short strand of silvery hair. "I'm not really sure. Thierry never mentioned anyone coming by for a visit." She stuck her small hands into the pockets of her red flannel boxers, rocking back and forth on her heels. "We don't usually get unexpected visitors..."  
  
Sarah's thoughts completed Gillian's sentence. Especially not in the middle of the night. She took a step out into the hallway, wrapping her arms around herself, cold even with the heavy sweatshirt, a chill making its way up her spine. "Maybe we should go downstairs and..."   
  
Sarah started the sentence with every intention of finishing it but was cut off by the sound of glass breaking somewhere to her right. She turned quickly, so fast that she almost lost her balance. "Not again," she murmured, seeing a dark shape coming down the hallway.  
  
Sarah grabbed hold of Gillian's arm, dragging her towards the stairs. "Lets get out of here," she said, taking the steps two at a time. She pushed the purple eyed witch in front of her and kept moving, screams of surprise and pain filling the entire mansion and echoing in the hallways.   
  
The cries cut through the darkness like silver edged knives and it took all of Sarah's willpower not to cover her ears and stop moving all together. But, instead, she willed her legs to keep moving, to keep carrying her forward and down the winding steps.  
  
They reached the foot of the stairs and Sarah paused, looking around in alarm. There seemed to be dark clad figures everywhere, stepping out of the blackness as though they were shadows themselves. They were attacking the people that Sarah had met only the day before, hitting and kicking them, some with weapons, some without. "I thought that Circle Daybreak's main headquarters was a secret," she whispered, her voice nearly lost in the cacophony. Sarah's dark blue eyes were wide, fright enlarging the pupils so that the black circles were large round discs.  
  
Gillian nodded silently next to her, hands twisted together, blood draining from the knuckles. Then she shook her head as though trying to clear it before turning and sprinting back up the stairs.  
  
"Where are you going!" Sarah called, taking a step after Gillian and nearly tripping over her flannel pants that fell over her toes.  
  
"To find David," Gillian replied, not slowing and not looking back.  
  
Sarah took another step but was knocked down before she could steady her footing. She tumbled to the bottom of the steps, her skull smacking against the marble floor, just as something swished over her head. Sarah picked herself up on her hands and knees looking for the person who had pushed her out of harm's way.  
  
She caught a glimpse of dark hair and a slender frame.  
  
Rashel  
  
A tall man with wine colored hair was expertly wielding a heavy looking silver sword. He swung it at Rashel, narrowly missing her chest as she jumped back. Rashel landed on the edge of the last step, holding her balance precariously, and pulled something from her boot with a soft snick. She lifted it just as the man was bringing the sword down again, blocking the blow. They remained that way for uncountable seconds, muscles straining, frozen in place.  
  
Sarah scrambled to her feet looking for something, anything, that could be used as a weapon. There was nothing, except...  
  
A wooden table stood next to the staircase, a vase made of heavy glass and painted with a colorful display of orchids and lilies standing on top of it. Stumbling towards the table, Sarah felt her hands closing around the cool glass. She lifted the vase, slightly surprised by its weight.  
  
Sarah glanced over, seeing Rashel on the ground, on her back, her bokken raised right above her throat. The man had one knee in her chest, bearing down on Rashel's bokken with his sword.  
  
Taking a step forward, Sarah brought the vase down - hard - with every ounce of strength in her body. She thrust forward with her weight, the vase connecting to the red haired man's skull with a soft crunch, the glass shattering in her hands. Sarah straightened, blood dripping between her tightly clenched fingers, breathing hard, looking at Rashel.  
  
Sarah barely felt the pain of her cut and bleeding hands or noticed the thin trickle of blood that dripped into her right eye.  
  
Rashel kicked the unconscious man off of her, sitting up while simultaneously slipping her bokken back into her boot. There was something like surprised respect in her green eyes.  
  
Sarah held an injured hand out to her, helping Rashel to her feet.  
  
Rashel was silent for a moment, thinking something over, before saying, "Kierlan sure knows how to pick them."  
  
Before Sarah could ask what she meant by that, Rashel was already tugging her away. "Lets get you out of here. We have a secret escape route, a tunnel that goes under the mansion. Thierry had it built just in case of an emergency."  
  
Sarah stumbled after Rashel, bare feet skidding across the floor. She looked around startled to realize that things were quieting down. The black clad figures had dwindled in number and the other Daybreakers had simply vanished.  
  
Rashel caught her looking and murmured, "They're all in the tunnel. The Daybreakers anyway. It'll be all right, just keep moving." She led Sarah to what just looked like another piece of the wall with a large gilt frame picture of Salvadore's melting clocks, the same picture that she had seen in the Circle Daybreak Sanctuary.  
  
The melting hands and numbers reflected eerily in the pale moonlight that filtered through a tall window. But before she had a chance to really study the painting, Rashel was pressing her fingers to one part of the wall, the wood paneling sliding back, revealing a dark tunnel.  
  
Sarah took a step inside, her eyes taking a moment to adjust to the dimness. She blinked once, something flaring to life on her right and lighting up the tunnel. Glancing behind her, Sarah saw Rashel holding a blazing torch in one hand, the fire leaping from the top, glittering red and gold. She turned back around, walking around a sharp corner, surprised to see Blade rushing towards her.  
  
Sarah reached out, grabbing hold of his arm. "Where are you going," she said.  
  
Blade blinked at her then shook his head. "Annabelle's still out there, I have to go find her." He broke free of Sarah's grasp and dashed away, disappearing into the looming darkness.  
  
Sarah set her jaw, whirling around and starting after Blade, accidentally bumping into Rashel and knocking the torch out of her hand. Feeling along the side of the tunnel with her hands, undoubtedly leaving behind bloody hand prints, Sarah heard Rashel curse from behind her.  
  
Using her hands and sense of touch to guide her, Sarah trailed her hands along the damp and slimy walls, stumbling a bit. She stubbed her toe against something and Sarah squeezed her eyes shut, pausing for a second to absorb the pain, then continued moving.  
  
It was so dark, thick and black like oil. She could have been walking straight off the edge of a cliff and would never have known it.  
  
At last she reached the end of the tunnel and, as her fingers moved gently over the cool stone, Sarah heard a soft snick as the door slid open.  
  
Sarah blinked against the sudden brightness, light dazzling her eyes for a moment. But once her vision cleared, she was relieved to be out of the dark tunnel. Then she took a step forward and was back in the mansion.   
  
She felt her chest rise and fall in one heavy motion, her feet stuck to the floor as though heavy weights had been attached to them. Her lungs contracted painfully. Paintings and vases littered the floor, broken and crushed, the pieces scattered and trampled. A few still bodies showed up as dark rumpled shadows in the dim lighting but Sarah was able to make out a distinct feature on about every other body.  
  
Like the pale golden hair on one still form, the deep green jade bracelet on another, long silver tipped nails on a third.  
  
Sarah's entire body stiffened, her nostrils flaring, the whites of her eyes widening. She thought she was going to be sick, then she swallowed hard. A sob welled up in her throat and she pressed a blood soaked hand to her mouth, feeling the slick wetness meet her lips.  
  
And then she started crying. It was soft at first, the tears dripping down her cheeks with determined certainty. And her shoulders shook only a little. But after a moment, Sarah was gasping for breath, the hot salty tears stinging her throat, falling from her eyes with reckless abandon, mixing with the blood, the watery red mixture dripping down her neck, staining her white sweatshirt.  
  
Sarah fell to her knees, her legs giving out on her at last. She hunched over, her hands pressing into the floor, trying, uselessly, to steady herself as the entire world rocked and swayed around her.  
  
And then, as hands clasped around her shoulders, Sarah shrieked, trying to fling her attacker off. She tore at his hands with her nails, sinking into his flesh with one vicious slash, drawing blood.  
  
"Let go," she screamed, shaking her head, and entire body, from side to side. But his grip was too strong and, at last, her body gave up and her struggles subsided. Sarah felt the tears retreat back into her eyes, resigning herself to her own death, her eyes shutting, her breath releasing in a soft whoosh.  
  
"Sarah, come on wake up."  
  
The voice, that voice, was familiar. She knew it.  
  
Sarah pried one eye open, then the other, seeing Kierlan looking at her, his dark, bottomless eyes opened wide in fear. "Goddess, Sarah, what happened," he choked out, gesturing to the mess around them, the pale skin on his cheeks stretched tightly over sharp bones. Kierlan reached out, brushing damp, bloody hair back from Sarah's face. "Sarah, *what* happened?"  
  
Sarah shut her eyes again, tears slipping out from behind closed eyelids. "I don't know," she whispered. "There were so many of them... so many. And Rashel helped me out and then Blade ran back and... Kierlan, there's so many..."  
  
"Shh," he said, rocking her back and forth, holding her to him. "I've got you now, you're all right. I've got you." Kierlan shut his eyes for a moment too, pain clawing at his heart. He had almost lost her; if he had been any later...  
  
Kierlan couldn't bear to think of that option. He simply couldn't have been too late.  
  
Sarah let out a shuddering breath. "Kierlan, I have to find Blade."  
  
Kierlan stiffened, but he didn't release his hold on Sarah. "All right. I'll help you find him."  
  
"I'm right here," Blade said, stepping forward, his shiny blonde hair a beacon of light in the darkness. "I can't find my sister anywhere."  
  
Kierlan narrowed his eyes, looking up at the Lamia. And then he stood, cradling Sarah in his arms. "I think right now we need to worry about getting Sarah out of here more than anything else."  
  
Blade's lips tightened. "You of all people shouldn't be telling me what to do," he snapped. He stepped forward, making a move to snatch Sarah from Kierlan's arms but Kierlan took a step back, out of reach. "What the hell do you think you're doing, let me have her. *I'm* her soulmate, not you," Blade said, voice shaking with uncharacteristic anger.  
  
In Kierlan's arms, Sarah started crying in earnest again. "Oh please," she said, her voice hushed and laced with thick tears. "Please not now, please."  
  
Blade looked at her, his hazel eyes softening, the anger of betrayal draining from his face. "OK, lets go."   
"I know where everyone else will be heading," Kierlan said, looking at Blade, meeting his eyes directly, a hollow feeling filling the pit of his stomach. "I'll take you both there."  
  
Blade started to nod, moving to let Kierlan by, when a soft chuckle made its way around the spacious room.  
  
"No one is going anywhere," a quiet voice said, splitting the darkness that had seemed like a protective cover for the past few minutes. But the voice, though quiet, was undeniably angry. "I don't like when things don't work out right and I've had just about enough of chasing you around."  
  
Sarah bit down on her lip, hiding her face in Kierlan's chest as Kierlan turned to face the direction of the voice. Blade stepped up beside him, his eyes searching the room but, even with his supernatural vision, he couldn't make anything out.  
  
After a few moments, while Kierlan's and Blade's ragged breaths synchronized, a figure dressed in a black cloak that covered its face appeared, standing at the foot of the stairs.   
  
"Is it that difficult to just be *caught.*" A hand lifted and a ball of orange flame exploded outward, shattering a mirror above Blade, Sarah, and Kierlan's heads.  
  
The figure pulled the hood of the cloak down with one tug, revealing a girl with dark golden hair that spilled over her shoulders in waves and yellow, cat-like eyes. Those eyes were narrowed, slitted. The girl smiled at them, the corners of her lips twitching in amusement. "Not that I haven't had fun with this little game," she continued. "But even the best things have to come to an end."  
  
She bowed her head for a moment as though she were puzzling something over, then laughed softly, lifting her face again.  
  
"Who are you," Kierlan said, his voice low, dangerous.  
  
"My name's Roseclear. I'm sure you've heard of me." She smiled again, tilting her head to the side. "I hope so anyway. Although, with these pesky bouts of NightWorlders finding soulmates in vermin, I'm beginning to doubt the things your elders   
teach you."  
  
Roseclear looked first at Kierlan, then at Blade, her golden gaze holding them both still. "But you should at least know of me. I am, after all, related to both of you." 


	8. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight  
  
Blade's eyes widened slightly, looking at Roseclear in growing disbelief. His mind turned through the pages of his childhood memories, or the stories about Night World history that he had been told years before. "Hunter Redfern and Maeve Harman's daughter?"  
  
Roseclear nodded with a smirk, lifting her hands to her hips, a silver ring engraved with a black flower flashing in the darkness. "Everyone thought I was raised as a witch, as *only* a witch. And that, of course, I was dead by now." She laughed softly, dimples deepening in her cheeks. "I'm not though... I learned how to be a witch. *And* a vampire."  
  
Kierlan looked at Blade from the corner of his eye, shifting his hold on Sarah slightly so that he was more balanced. There was little that they could do to get out of the mansion; Sarah's limp body was a hindrance to them both. And, just as Kierlan knew that he would never leave Sarah behind, he was certain that Blade wouldn't either.  
  
It was an odd kind of connection between the two men, one that Kierlan wasn't entirely sure that he even wanted to have. But at the very least, he knew that Sarah wouldn't only have his protection. She's have Blade's as well.  
  
Blade returned the look with a faint shrug of his shoulders, the expression in his eyes that of defeat. Kierlan's eyes flashed in response. Or maybe Sarah would just have his own protection. It was that look in Blade's expression that made Kierlan hope, more than anything, that Blade wasn't the fourth Wild Power. Because if he was, if this prissy, pretty boy vampire *was* the fourth, they had more problems then just the destruction of Circle Daybreak's main headquarters.  
  
Roseclear was circling them, her black cape trailing behind her. "I can do anything you know," she was going on, seemingly oblivious to Blade's and Kierlan's silent communication. She smiled suddenly, perfect white teeth flashing in the darkness. "I can even raise dragons. I almost killed the third Wild Power with a dragon, but she was surprisingly tough, little Iliana was. But I can still kill you."  
  
Roseclear snapped, once, the flesh of her thumb striking that of her middle finger, and another dark shadow took shape, striding forward gracefully. "This is Raya, she's a dragon and she's been... dying to meet you." Roseclear threw her head back and laughed, clearly amused.  
  
Sarah's head shot up when she heard the word dragon. When she had first met Blade, she had been introduced to an entire array of different kinds of creatures: vampires, 'shifters, witches. But of all of them, the one species that seemed to silence a room quickest were the dragons.  
  
She knew a little, that the seat of their powers lay in their horns, that they could shapeshift into anything they touched, that they were almost as powerful as the Wild Powers.  
  
Sarah swallowed hard, looking at Raya through wide eyes. The dragon was tall, slim, but seemed to hold a power that even Sarah, although she was human, could pick up on. Raya hair fell to her waist in unruly curls, the black strands twisting around on another. Her eyes were as green as rose stems and the pupils were almond shaped.  
  
Sarah twisted a little and shrugged herself out of Kierlan's grasp so that he had to place her on her feet or drop her. She straightened her shoulders, fighting off the darkness that was tugging at the edges of her mind.  
  
Roseclear's tinkly laughter fell over her in a cool, icy wave. Sarah shuddered.  
  
"Quite a tiger, that one is," Roseclear said, gesturing to Sarah, still enjoying the turn this game was taking. "But either way, you'll all die together." Roseclear lifted her hands and brought the hood of her cloak over her face again so her features were shrouded in darkness. "I apologize but I must be going. I'm sure Raya will be happy to entertain the three of you."  
  
Roseclear turned and moved away, the heavy velvet swishing, until she was only a shadow. Then the shadow faded and disappeared from sight.  
  
Sarah reached out, grabbing hold of both Blade's and Kierlan's hands, squeezing tightly, pink sharks shooting up both of her hands, making her muscles tighten convulsively. But, as the crackles of electricity subsided, Sarah was both amazed and thrilled to discover that she had the ability communicate to both of them with her mental voice.  
  
*We have to get out of here,* she told them. *I can walk, I'll be fine, but somehow we've got to get the dragon to let us go.*  
  
Agreement radiated from both sides of her and Sarah felt a rush of power coarse through her veins. Helpless laughter bubbled up in her throat. They could do this, they could. United, as one, they could make it out of here.  
  
Blade's hand released hers first and when Sarah glanced to the side, she saw why. His body was tensed, ready to spring forward and fight. His pupils were hugely dilated and a fierce hunting glimmer overtook them, turning the hazel irises golden. Blade's shoulders hunched, the muscles in his legs cording.  
  
Then Kierlan's hand slipped away and Sarah saw him cupping his palms together, a small flicker of orange flame coming to life from between them, the firelight reflecting in those obsidian eyes. His teeth were slightly bared, his legs shoulder length apart, balancing him firmly to the ground.  
  
He starting spreading his hands apart, the fireball growing larger and brighter with intensity. The flames flickered off the foyer's walls, creating ghostly shadows that danced around them like a crackling inferno.  
  
"I hate dragons," Kierlan muttered under his breath, drawing one arm back with a fierce motion, his hand snapping forward a moment later, orange fire erupting from his palm.  
  
The witch fire hit Raya directly in the forehead and the dragon reached up, holding a hand to the scalded skin. Her head was bowed as she breathed deeply. Then it snapped up, her green eyes darkening until they were black, an endless darkness that went on and on.  
  
She looked at Kierlan for a moment, anger causing her pale cheeks to flush as she spread her hands out in front of her.   
"Oh, hell," Kierlan said softly, moving quickly and diving towards the ground. He grabbed Sarah around the waist, bringing her with him and they ended up smacking into the hard floor, rolling over, a tangle of arms and legs, as a sharp whip of black energy crackled above their heads.  
  
Sarah looked up just in time to see Blade leaping at the dragon with supernatural speed and agility. He hit Raya from the side and she tumbled to the marble floor with a thud, the back of her head making a cracking sound.  
  
Sarah felt bile well up in the back of her throat. *Another dead body,* she thought dully, struggling to her feet. But hands grabbed at her, yanking her back down just as Raya stirred. The dragon gathered her feet under her and threw Blade off with such force that he flew across the room, hitting a floor to ceiling mirror, the glass shards falling around the Lamia like rain.  
  
Sarah heard a scream and, although she couldn't be certain, she thought that she was the one screaming.  
  
"Oh, god, no," she gasped, her eyes flying to Blade's still form. His thick blonde hair fell over one eye, matted with blood. A pool of the sticky liquid had formed underneath him, starting to flow across the floor in a river.  
  
*Oh god, oh god, he's dead,* Sarah thought illogically, grasping at breaths of air. She was faintly aware that Kierlan was holding her up, keeping her from falling over -- or running to Blade. Sarah twisted in his arms, beating at his chest uselessly.  
  
"Let me go," she said, her voice desperate. "I have to go to him. Let go." Sarah gave another violent tug, coming free of Kierlan's hands, and scrambled towards her fallen soulmate. Her bare feet crunched down on slivers of glass, the fragments cutting into the tender flesh of her soles.  
  
She was halfway to Blade. Blade who's blonde hair shimmered, not because it was shiny, but because of the glass that had wound itself into the strands. And Blade, whose blood Sarah had to wade through to reach him, the blood from her own feet mingling with his.  
  
And then something knocked into her from behind and she skidded across the floor, tumbling into a wall. Sarah lifted her hands to brace herself as the plaster came to meet her, her palms absorbing the impact. She rebounded and ended up on her back, looking up at the high ceiling, struggling to steady her breath.  
  
After a moment, Sarah twisted, lifting herself to one knee painfully. A black scorch mark had burned through where Sarah had just been standing. Eyes darting to the side, she saw Kierlan also trying to get to his feet. Raya had intended to kill her and   
Kierlan had been the one to push her away from the danger.  
  
And then Sarah's eye caught Raya, who was advancing on Kierlan, black smoke sizzling from her hands, her eyes black as midnight. She laughed and carelessly waved a hand at him, black fire hitting him with enough force to reverberate throughout the mansion.  
  
Sarah felt the floor lift up from below her and her hands flailed desperately, reaching out for something to anchor her. The world was a rolling sea of pain, pain that was coming not only from her own cut and bleeding body, and not only from Blade's still form that was still gushing blood from uncountable cuts, but from Kierlan who lay face down on the marble, his arms spread eagled by his sides, his face turned to Sarah, his eyes closed.  
  
Tiny puffs of black smoke lifted from his body, curling up and around him. His chest wasn't moving, wasn't rising and falling with the steady breaths that signaled that he was still alive.  
  
Something snapped inside of Sarah. She jumped to her feet, her hands clenching at her sides, the shards of glass embedded into her cuts still biting into her palms. But this caused her no pain. "No! You monster," she screamed, her voice shrill and in danger of going hoarse.  
  
Sarah started forward, the flannel pants billowing out around her, dragging across the floor, ruined and tattered. "You are a monster," she said slowly, each word precise, each syllable filled with loathing.  
  
Sarah didn't know what she was planning to do. She was no match for Raya, the dragon who was looking at her with amusement in her eyes, as though she were enjoying this, as if everything was going according to plan. Raya's dark curls tumbled around her face, her blood red lips twisting into a smile.  
  
"Come here, little girl. Lets see what you've got," Raya said, her voice coming out in a hiss.  
  
Sarah clenched her teeth together, not breaking her stride, moving closer to Raya, a step at a time. "Monster," she repeated. It was the only word that came through clearly in the jumble of her thoughts. Everything else was obliterated by the one certainty that Raya must die.  
  
Raya lifted her hands above her head, drawing in dark energy from some endless source of power, her entire form eclipsed with it. It crackled and burned, smoke fanning out and stinging Sarah's eyes.  
  
Sarah tried to take a deep breath, choking and coughing on the foggy blackness. Her muscles tightened with determination as she ordered herself not to run away, to keep moving.   
  
Raya met Sarah's eyes, holding them for a moment. "Say goodnight," Raya said softly, bringing her arms down hard, the sound of violent thunder splitting through Sarah's eardrums.  
  
Sarah dropped to her knees, holding her hands over her head, preparing herself for mind numbing impact. But the pain never came.   
  
Instead, there was a flash of light, so bright that Sarah could see it through her closed eyelids, and a warmth that snaked through her bloodstream. She dropped her hands and lifted her head, eyes widening in surprise.  
  
A bolt of blue fire had cut through the ceiling of the mansion, rushing downward like a shining, shimmering waterfall, connecting directly with Raya body, jolting the dragon's form.  
  
Everything seemed to freeze then, sound, movement, everything stopped as though it were caught like a frame in a movie.  
  
Through the blue haze, Sarah could see Raya's eyes opening wide, her mouth widening in a soundless scream. Then the fire flashed once and was gone, nothing left of Raya except for a blue outline on the white marble.  
  
There was silence for a full minute, as though life outside the mansion has disappeared. And then, suddenly, Sarah was aware of the steady chirping of crickets, of the questioning call of an owl. Of her own breathing.   
  
She looked around the foyer slowly, her feet moving so that she was twisting around in a circle, taking in the damage. The burned marks on the walls, the shattered glass, the bloodied marble. It was a hundred times worse than when she had first come   
out of the tunnel.  
  
Sarah stopped circling when she saw a slight movement from Blade. He was shaking his head, glass falling from his hair to the ground. Blade steadied himself with one hand and he drew himself to his knees, then pressed both hands to his upper legs and precariously got to his feet.  
  
Sarah stumbled over to him, throwing her arms around his waist, ignoring the blood, clinging to him for a moment. "You're alive," she said, her voice breathy. "I thought you were dead..." She stopped suddenly, throat constricting, as she turned to where Kierlan was lying.  
  
"Kierlan," she whispered faintly. Sarah lifted a hand to her mouth. "Oh, no... he's..."  
  
She stopped, unable to finish the thought. Blade carefully detached himself from Sarah's arms and made his way over to the black haired witch, kneeling next to him and pressing his fingers to the other man's neck.  
  
"He still has a pulse," Blade said, looking up at Sarah. "He's alive. I don't know for how long though. We've got to get him out of here."  
  
Blade slid a hand beneath Kierlan's back, bracing himself and picking up the other man. "If only we knew where the rest of the Daybreakers were going..."  
  
There was a faint cough, then Kierlan opened one eye, looking at Blade suspiciously. "Just what in the hell do you think you're doing?"  
  
Blade snorted. "Maybe he's got more life in him than I thought." He put Kierlan back on his feet ungraciously. "Since you're just fine, lead the way out of here."  
  
"I wouldn't say that I was just fine," Kierlan said, running a hand through his dark hair. "But... wait a minute." His eyes narrowed as he surveyed the room. "Where's Raya?"  
  
Sarah had made her way over to Blade and Kierlan by then and looked between them nervously. Plucking at her ruined sweatshirt, she bit down on her lip and shrugged. "Someone here is the Wild Power," she mumbled, looking upward with a sigh. "The blue fire killed her."  
  
"Someone's the... what?" Blade said, shaking his head. "Goddess, don't tell me that they were actually..."  
  
Kierlan rolled his eyes impatiently a grimace pulling at his lips. "So Circle Daybreak was right. You're number four. Don't look so surprised, more often than not Thierry's right."   
  
Kierlan jammed his hands into the pockets of his black jeans. "Can we go now? I've had enough of this place." His eyes grazed Sarah who had a hand clenched tightly to the back of Blade's bloody shirt.  
  
Sarah shook herself self-consciously, releasing her hold on Blade. She looked around the foyer one last time, a fine shudder running through her body. "All right. Lets go." 


	9. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine  
  
  
"You sure know how to get yourself into trouble, don't you?" Thea Harman asked, her large brown eyes concerned and troubled. She took a cloth, soaked it in a basin of warm water, and twisted the excess moisture back into the bowl. Then, lifting the rag in a gentle hand, she wiped at the blood that had dried on Sarah's forehead.  
  
Sarah smiled weakly. She felt sore and stiff, cut up and covered in gore. Lifting her massacred hands, she showed them to Thea, turning them over so the palms were   
facing up. "I made a mess of myself, didn't I?"  
  
Thea placed the cloth on the side of the cot Sarah was laying on before taking Sarah's hands in her own, studying them thoughtfully. "Yes, you did." She laid Sarah's hands down, bending over and reaching under the cot before standing back up, her hands filled with gauze bandages, scissors, surgical tape, and a small brown pot filled with some kind of gel.  
  
"I'm going to try to get all the glass out of your cuts, all right?" Thea said softly, starting with Sarah's right palm. "It'll probably hurt a little, but I'll be as gentle as I possibly can."  
  
Sarah nodded once, turning her head away. As grateful as she was to Thea for taking care of her wounds, she's wasn't entirely sure that she wanted to watch. "So is everyone OK?"  
  
Thea used a pair of tweezers to pluck at the glass slivers, starting a pile on a small piece of towel. "Almost everyone. Annabelle Redfern is still missing. You know her right..." Thea paused, the tweezers hanging limply between two fingers. "Well of course you know her. Anyway, Thierry has Daybreak agents out looking for Annabelle. I'm sure they'll find her. And almost everyone else, everyone that you know anyway, made it out safely."  
  
"That's... good," Sarah said, studying the white plaster wall. She was trying to pay attention to Thea, but her eyelids were so heavy. She felt that, if she could just close them, she'd drift off to sleep...  
  
A sudden sharp prick in the center of her hand jolted her back to consciousness. "Blade and Kierlan, they're all right, aren't they?" Sarah asked, the pain shooting through her palm making her want to do something to take her mind off it, even if it was holding polite conversation on a very sensitive subject.  
  
"Oh, of course," Thea said, scooping some pale yellow jelly from the brown pot with a q-tip. She rubbed it onto the cuts on Sarah's hand before starting to wind a soft, gauze bandage around the skin. "Kierlan... well he bounces back from just about anything. And Blade. Aside from being a vampire, it seems that he's also the fourth Wild Power. Lord Thierry and Lady Hannah think that when Blade used his blue fire that it not only killed the dragon but also healed whatever damage Raya did."  
  
Excitement was mounting in Thea's voice. "Iliana Harman's blue fire does something similar to that. And now we have Blade, the fourth."  
  
Sarah turned her head back to the blonde haired witch, flexing her fingers before offering her left hand. "Thea, is Blade going to have to fight in the millennium battle?"  
  
Thea began working on the new set of glass encrusted cuts, her eyes carefully trained on her work. "Well, of course, that's up to him. But we sure do hope that he will. Four less one and darkness triumphs, you know."  
  
"Yes," Sarah said, shutting her eyes. "Can I go see them... him."  
  
"I'm sure that will be fine. He's in a meeting with Lord Thierry right now though," Thea said, already covering the second hand in bandages. "We'll just get you all cleaned up and by then he'll probably be out of his meeting. There's a clean pair of clothes in the bathroom for you."  
  
"Thanks." Sarah opened her eyes and sat up, swinging her legs over the side of the cot. She held up her hands and wiggled her fingers at Thea. "And thanks for this. It feels a lot better."  
  
Thea smiled. "That's what I like to hear." She helped Sarah to her feet and gestured to the bathroom door. "I'm sure that you're anxious to see Blade. I'll let you go."  
  
Sarah ducked her head, disappearing into the bathroom. The bright light glared off the mirror hanging above the sink and Sarah's bandaged handed clenched the white porcelain as she looked at her reflection. She couldn't help but crack a smile. Her hair was disheveled and her lip was cut, a small scab already forming on it. A dull ache starting in the back of her head and Sarah was instantly reminded of smacking it against the floor when Rashel had knocked her to the ground.  
  
"Ouch," she said, gingerly touching her lip. Sarah found a small, black comb on the edge of the sink and tugged it through her tangled blonde hair, trying to make herself look somewhat presentable.  
  
She grimaced, the hair pulling on the cut on the back of her scalp and gave up on the comb, gathering the fine strands into a loose ponytail at the base of her neck and fastening it with a clip that had been lying next to the comb. "Good enough," she murmured.  
  
Sarah peeled off the blood soaked clothes, replacing them with a fresh, clean, dark blue sweater and stiff blue jeans. After pulling on a pair of thick white socks, Sarah opened the bathroom door and padded out, surprised to see that Thea had disappeared from the outside room.  
  
She wandering into the hallway, looking up and down the unfamiliar hallway. Kierlan had shown them where the Circle Daybreak Headquarters' Sanctuary was. It was a short, squat building on the edge of Las Vegas. Or at least it appeared to be short and squat. The top floor was above ground, but the remaining floors were built underground, invisible to anyone on the outside. The only way to the lower levels was through a steel trapdoor built into the higher level's floor.  
  
As much as Sarah didn't like being underground, as much as she had felt at first that she was trapped, she had to admit that being in this secret hideaway also made her feel safe.   
  
As Sarah wandered down the hallway, she spotted a tall, dark haired vampire. Setting her shoulders, Sarah went over to him to ask where Thierry's office was. He paused, looking her over before finally deciding that he could, in fact, tell her. Giving her directions that Sarah doubted she was going to remember, she nodded to him and started down the hallway again.  
  
Sarah walked slowly down to the end of the hallway then made the mandatory right, then a left, followed by another series of turns. Finally, after a few minutes, she came to stop in front of a large mahogany door. She lifted a hand to knock, then dropped it, not wanting to interrupt Thierry and Blade's meeting. Sarah let out a heavy sigh and frowned, glancing up and down the hallway as though someone there would be able to help her.  
  
"Looking for someone?" a smooth voice said.  
  
Sarah looked up and saw Kierlan, his arms crossed over his chest. The tall blonde vampire named Ash was standing next to him and wiggled his fingers at Sarah.   
  
"We've met," Ash said before Kierlan had a chance to introduce them. "She was... looking for you." Ash flashed a bright smile.  
  
Sarah smoothed her hair back, flustered. "Yeah, and I did end up finding him the other day. Thanks."  
  
"Well, I'll be seeing you, both of you," Ash said with a careless wave, leaning towards Sarah as he passed her. "Watch yourself."  
  
"I heard that," Kierlan said sharply, watching Ash saunter off down the hallway.  
  
Ash just laughed in response.  
  
Sarah looked away, studying the beige carpeting. "I... how are you?" She looked up at last, startled as she met his eyes.  
  
Kierlan stared at her, unblinking. "Honestly? I've been better. But you look like you took some beating." He closed the distance between them and took her injured hands in his. "Look, Sarah..."  
  
"Kierlan," she started at the same time, her voice trailing off. She bit her lip, tasting the copper flavor of her blood clot. "What are you doing here?"  
  
Kierlan blinked at her sudden change of topic, then shrugged. "In the sanctuary? The same thing as you I suppose. In front of Thierry's office? I needed to speak with him."  
  
"Oh." Sarah pulled her hands away and let them drop limply to her sides. "I was just looking for Blade."  
  
Kierlan was silent for a moment as he looked at some spot on the wall some where above Sarah's head. For a moment, Sarah was terribly frightened that he was going to cry, that this strong man before her, so perfectly in control, so cool and collected, was going to break down in front of her.  
  
Instead, he frowned. "I figured as much," Kierlan said quietly, turning away from her to lean back against the wall.  
  
The mahogany door opened then and Blade stepped out, followed by Thierry.   
  
Thierry was dressed in a black suit, one that set his white blonde hair off to perfection. His black eyes crinkled at the sides as he smiled at Blade. "Well you should be safe here. At the very least, we have enough guards protecting you. Welcome to the team."  
  
Blade returned the smile and held out a hand to Thierry. They shook. "I'm glad to be a part of it."  
  
Blade's eyes shifted, seeing the occupants of the hallway at last. "Sarah..." he said in surprise. "And Kierlan." His voice darkened as his eyes narrowed to angry slits.  
  
"Don't bother getting yourself worked up," Kierlan said dangerously, glaring at Blade. "I have a meeting with Thierry."  
  
"One that I'm really looking forward to," Thierry said, one eyebrow raised questioningly. "I can't wait to hear what you needed to meet me so urgently about." Then he smiled at Sarah, gesturing at her. "Kierlan, have you met Sarah Strange? Blade's soulmate. Now we have all four Wild Powers and three of their soulmates. You know the way the prophecy goes."  
  
Kierlan felt his heart sink, dread making his feet leaden. Of course, he had been so stupid. The Wild Powers couldn't fight without their soulmates. Aside from the fact that Sarah had obviously chosen Blade, she *had* to choose Blade. The future of the entire world was at stake.  
  
He let out a short, humorless laugh. "We've met," Kierlan said shortly, following Thierry into his office the door shutting with a bang behind them.  
  
"Blade?" Sarah said hesitantly.  
  
Blade turned to her, looking her over from head to toe, his gaze pausing on the cuts and bruises. On her hands. "Goddess, Sarah, how did I let you get so hurt?" Something shattered in his eyes and Sarah felt herself being swept up in his arms, locked inside the safety he provided.  
  
"It's not your fault," Sarah murmured against his chest, a fine tremor settling over her limbs. "I'm just glad that you're all right."  
  
This was what she had been missing. This warmth, this safety. The security of arms that would never let anything terrible happen to her. It was nothing like being in Kierlan's arms, where every moment was a new jolt of surprise. Kierlan's arms were a place where Sarah didn't know what to expect, where she didn't know how to feel. But Blade...  
  
He was comfortable.  
  
Sarah blushed, instantly regretting the thought and simultaneously glad that Blade couldn't see her flushed cheeks. Comfortable wasn't a very flattering way to describe someone, especially your soulmate  
  
But aside from that, aside from the comfort, the fact that there was no where in the world that she felt safer, Blade was humanity's future, he had to save the world. And he needed her help to do it.  
  
*Great,* Sarah thought, her mental voice obviously mocking her. *Comfortable and necessary. How... thrilling.*  
  
*Shut up,* she told it savagely, tightening her grip on Blade, fingers tangling in his shirt.  
  
"It's all right," Blade was saying softly. "I forgive you. After thinking about it, I know that what happened couldn't have possibly been your fault. It was that witch. He's so arrogant that he just can't stand the fact that he can't have whoever he wants whenever he wants them."  
  
Sarah looked up at Blade, surprised by the vehemence of his words. She opened her mouth to object but Blade quickly put a finger to her lips.  
  
"Now, don't try to argue. You're just noble enough to do that," he said with a slight, crooked smile.  
  
*Funny,* Sarah thought vaguely. *I never noticed the blind trust in his eyes, the way his eyes glaze over when he looks at me, as though he's not really seeing *me* but the idea of what I am to him.   
  
Sarah turned her head away, not trusting herself to look at Blade. She wanted to scream, wanting to insist that it wasn't Kierlan's fault, that it had never been Kierlan's fault. That Kierlan was her soulmate too.  
  
But she couldn't. Her lips remained pressed together, the blood draining from them, turning the skin bluish white.  
  
"I love you, Blade," she said softly, shutting her eyes and leaning against him.  
  
Comfortable and necessary.  
  
  
**************************************************************  
  
Sarah was sitting in a small room, feet hanging over the edge of an apple green velvet chair. She was watching the crackling fire, alone for the first time since meeting up with Blade earlier in the day.  
  
Sarah supposed that she should try to sleep, fatigue was weighing heavily on her eyelids. But that was simply impossible. She always saw Kierlan when she closed her eyes.  
  
The flames lept and danced, spiraling around one another, and Sarah was instantly reminded of the orange witch fire, the dragon's dark energy, and the brilliant blue fire. *We all almost died.*  
  
She started in shock when she heard a voice from behind her. Sarah sat up quickly, her eyes widening in surprise when she saw Kierlan, the collar of his leather jacket turned up, a duffel bag slung over one shoulder.  
  
"I just came to say goodbye," he said, voice hushed as though he were afraid to disturb the peace in the room.  
  
Sarah scrambled off the chair, almost stubbing her toe, standing to face him. "What? What are you talking about? Where are you going?" She felt a sudden lump of dread in her throat.  
  
"Away," Kierlan said. "You didn't expect me to stay here while you lived the rest of your happy life with Blade, did you?"  
  
Sarah looked around the room desperately, as though she could find some help from the dark green wallpaper. "But you can't just *leave.* Don't you work for Circle Daybreak."  
  
"I got Thierry to give me a leave of absence. That's what the meeting was about earlier."  
  
Sarah froze, lifting her eyes to Kierlan's. "You can't leave."   
  
"I can and I am." Kierlan shrugged, switching his bag from one shoulder to the other. "Come on, you've got Blade to take care of you. You'll be fine."  
  
"But... I don't want you to leave."  
  
Kierlan laughed hollowly, shaking his head. "You can't have it both ways, Sarah. You chose Blade. In a way, you *had* to choose Blade. I don't know why I didn't see it sooner."  
  
Sarah's eyes widened, shining with tears. Kierlan had seen it too, realized that to fulfill the prophecy about the Wild Powers, Sarah would have to stand at Blade's side. "But I don't *want* you to leave," she whispered, her voice cracking. She wrapped her arms around herself, a chill snaking its way up her spine, backing away from him.  
  
"Sarah... please don't." Kierlan dropped the duffel bag to the floor as though it were too heavy for him. He started towards her his eyes wide and looking terribly bruised. "Don't cry, it's not worth it. You have to be with Blade, you know that. He needs you to help him fight in the millennium battle. *He* needs *you.*"  
  
Sarah's breath came out in a shuddering sob. "And you don't? You don't... need me?"  
  
"That's not what I said," Kierlan replied slowly, reaching out a hand to her. "You know that's not what I said."  
  
Sarah shook her head at him, her shoulder's shaking. "Go on, leave. You said you were leaving, so go."  
  
Kierlan's eyes widened even further, his resolve breaking up into an icy sea of anguish. "I didn't want to say goodbye this way."  
  
"How else did you want to say it Kierlan? How?" Sarah's expression hardened as she tried desperately to turn her sorrow into anger. At least anger was something she could cling to, something that might get her through this. "Did you think that I'd just tell you goodbye, let you walk away like the hero? Giving the poor confused girl an easy out for the greater good? And since when do you even care about the greater good? That's just not you!"  
  
Kierlan stopped in midstride, his outstretched hand dropping to his side. His eyes narrowed, shackles going up. "Of course. You're the expert," he said with a short bark of laughter. "And you're so very right. So if you want me to be honest, I'm leaving because I've had just about enough of everyone's sniveling. And, between you and me? Blade doesn't have what it takes to be the Fourth. He'll probably be the first to die in the battle."  
  
Sarah's breath caught in her throat. "You..." She grabbed the first thing she could get her hands on, a wooden flower, its petals painted black, and threw it at him with all her strength.   
  
Kierlan caught it easily, his fingers closing around the stem in a bone crushing grip. He lifted an eyebrow and watched her wordlessly.  
  
"You're disgusting. I hate you," Sarah said, fury making redness creep up her cheeks.  
  
"My dear, we're finally on the same wavelength," Kierlan said gesturing at her with the flower. Then he knelt and picked up his duffel bag, turning to leave. "Goodbye Sarah." 


	10. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten  
  
Sarah watched Kierlan go, her mouth dropped open, a warm, hot, unbearably familiar feeling prickling the corners of her eyes. She licked her dry lips, not trusting herself to say anything in response to his goodbye. Her entire body was trembling now as she fought putting her bandaged hands to her mouth to hold back the sobs.  
  
He had just... left.  
  
Sarah let her head drop and took a few uncertain steps backwards, feeling as though her feet were heavy and leaden, sinking into a chair, her knees shaking too badly to remain standing any longer.  
  
She was startled when a dark haired girl with a flustered expression on her face peeked into the room, looking at Sarah quizzically. The stranger half smiled and shrugged, her shoulders rising and falling in a simple movement. "I don't suppose you could tell me where Thierry Descouedres' office is, could you? I got directions to it from upstairs, but I think I'm lost."  
  
Sarah looked up in surprise, wiping away a few stray tears and smiling weakly. She shook her head in response. "Oh, yeah, I can show you how to get there if you want."  
  
The girl was visibly relieved, her blue eyes brightening slightly. "Thanks, that would be great."  
  
Sarah got to her feet, mentally ordering her legs to hold up, and led the stranger out into the hallway, noticing for the first time that she carried an overnight bag. "Are you visiting?" she asked softly, trying her best to be polite, but, even to her own ears, her voice sounded unused and uncertain.  
  
"Me? Oh... yeah," the girl said. "Just for a few days though, I go to school out east."  
  
Sarah studied her for a moment, noticing that the girl's eyes were as blue as the night sky and her hair was wavy and thick, falling a little past her shoulders and pulled back at the sides with silver clips. She couldn't help but notice that the girl was obviously human. "You're a member of Circle Daybreak?"  
  
The girl laughed softly. "An honorary member anyway."  
  
Sarah puzzled this over for a moment, walking silently, following the sloping white hallway in the direction she knew led to Thierry's office. Then she looked back up at the girl. "Is your soulmate here?"  
  
The girl nodded once, slowly. "Yeah, that's why I'm going to see Thierry, he's helping me arrange for this visit to be a surprise."  
  
"So you know about soulmates?"  
  
"A little." The girl shrugged.  
  
Sarah shook her head hard, sticking her hands into her Jean pockets, drawing in a breath for courage. "Well can you give me some advice on what to do when your soulmate's a complete jerk?"  
  
The girl's mouth dropped open slightly as though she was startled, then she started laughing, her shoulders shaking gently. "When your soulmate's a..." She bit down on her lip, stifling another round of laughter.  
  
Sarah frowned, freezing in midstep, a sinking feeling starting somewhere deep in the pit of her stomach. "What's so funny?"  
  
Trying not to smile, the girl said, "It's just funny that you asked me of all people. If you want my expert opinion, I suggest kicking them in the shins."  
  
Sarah looked slightly startled herself, then shrugged. "Seeing how he left today I don't think that's going to be an option."  
  
"Who's your soulmate?"  
  
Sarah hesitated. There was no use in explaining her confusion over having two soulmates to this stranger so she opted for the easy answer. "Kierlan Harman."  
  
The girl's eyes widened fractionally. "Kierlan huh? Last I heard he didn't even have a soulmate. Congratulations," she said dryly. "By the way, I'm Mary-Lynnette."  
  
It was Sarah's turn to look surprised. "*You're* Mary-Lynnette? Ash Redfern's soulmate?"  
  
Mary-Lynnette nodded, laughing nervously. "Why am I worried that you know that?"  
  
"Oh no, don't be," Sarah said quickly. "He was..." She trailed off, trying to find a word to describe Ash. Charming? Probably not what Mary-Lynnette wanted to hear. Nice? Maybe, but not entirely. Moody? Most definitely, but another one of those inappropriate responses.  
  
"Civil," Sarah finished lamely.  
  
Mary-Lynnette burst out laughing again. "Civil?" She tried to swallow her helpless laughter. "Thanks for trying though. Anyway, he can be nice when he feels like it, don't let him get to you."  
  
Sarah opened her mouth to say that Ash really had been, in actuality, helpful when she realized that they were standing in front of Thierry's office. "Well, I guess this is your stop." She paused, uncertain and awkward.  
  
Mary-Lynnette smiled, closing a hand around the doorknob. "It was nice meeting you..."  
  
"Sarah," Sarah supplied.  
  
Mary-Lynnette looked at her startled. "Sarah," she repeated softly, her blue eyes a little distant as though she were trying to make sense of something. Then she shook her head. "I"m sure we'll bump into each other later. I can give you more tips on dealing with incompatible soulmates."  
  
The smile Mary-Lynnette shot Sarah was contagious and Sarah soon found herself grinning back. "Sure that sounds great. Um... Mary-Lynnette..."  
  
"Mare."  
  
"All right, Mare. You won't... mention what we talked about to anyone, will you?" Sarah said hesitantly.  
  
"Of course not," Mary-Lynnette said with a laugh. "Your secret's safe with me." She twisted the knob in her hand and disappeared into the office.  
  
Sarah nodded, watching the dark haired girl go, feeling better than she had in a long time.  
  
  
*******************************************************  
  
It wasn't until she left Mary-Lynnette at Thierry's office that Sarah realized that she had no idea of what she was going to do with herself. She supposed that she could try to find Blade, but Sarah wasn't entirely sure that she felt like seeing him right now.   
  
Especially not right now. Sarah smiled wryly and without humor.   
  
She wandered down into the Sanctuary, all the way to the bottom floor that, although it was furnished just like a regular house, she couldn't help but feel claustrophobic in. The fact of the matter was that they really were miles underground, surrounded on all sides by rocky walls.  
  
Sarah went into the kitchen, opening the large, white refridgerator, peeking inside. Her stomach was growling uncomfortably as it dawned on her that she hadn't eaten anything of substance in the past day or two.  
  
"Not that I'm in the mood to eat anything anyway," she said, under her breath, doing her best not to glare at the contents of the refridgerator.  
  
Finally settling on a container of strawberry yogurt, Sarah sat at that kitchen table to eat after retrieving a spoon with the curclicue insigna "CD" on its handle. She was concentrating on the chunks of strawberries so hard that she didn't hear the footsteps behind her or notice Mary-Lynnette taking a seat across from her.  
  
"Hey? Sarah?" Mary-Lynnette waved a hand in front of her face to get the other girl's attention, slightly worried about the blank, expressionless look on Sarah's face. "The meeting with Thierry didn't take all that long and..."  
  
She stopped when Sarah looked up in surprise. Coughing, Sarah said, "Sorry, I didn't hear you come in." She glanced down again, at the yogurt container, seeing that she hadn't even managed to get one spoonful into her mouth. "I was busy... *not* eating..."  
  
Mary-Lynnette couldn't help but smile at that. "You look upset. Kierlan?"  
  
Sarah made a sound like the closest thing to a ladylike snort that she could achieve and looked up again. "Soulmates in general."  
  
"You were in the mansion when all the fighting was going on, weren't you?" Mary-Lynnette was staring at Sarah's bandaged hands with keen eyes, her eyebrows raised questioningly, changing the subject abruptly.  
  
Sarah looked to her own bandages, eyes darkening. "Yeah... I was." She sighed, heavily, once, before glancing back to Mary-Lynnette's concerned expression.  
  
"Thierry told me," Mary-Lynnette explained with a shrug of her shoulders. "I gathered some bits and pieces of what happened from him. And with what happened with Kierlan. I asked Thierry about you and him and... he told me." She paused. "Not to be nosy, I was just wondering. You seemed like a kindred soul back there in the hallway, is all, what with your soulmate situation."   
  
Laughing almost self-consciously, Mary-Lynnette added, "Would you listen to me? Kindred soul?" She shook her head, still chuckling to herself.  
  
"Did Thierry tell you why Kierlan left?" Sarah said abruptly, not intending for her voice to sound as sharp as it did.  
  
Mary-Lynnette stopped laughing, her expression sobering. "Blade?" she said soflty. "Not that Thierry told me... but I had heard about you and Blade from Ash. That's why I thought it was so odd that you said Kierlan, of all people, was your soulmate."  
  
"Even if Blade *wasn't* my soulmate, it would be odd that Kierlan of all people was soulmate anyway," Sarah muttered with a frown, pushing her yogurt container away and tracing the wood lines in the table with the "CD" end of her spoon. "I guess that doesn't make sense huh? I think I have two soulmates."  
  
Mary-Lynnette's eyebrows went up even further. "Two?"  
  
"Two."  
  
A long silence stretched between them, humming with unspoken questions.  
  
"Is that possible?" Mary-Lynnette finally said.  
  
"Must be." Sarah tilted her head downward so that her blonde hair fell over her face. She couldn't help but feel miserable. Blade was the fourth Wild Power, Kierlan had taken off, the three of them had almost died, and Annabelle was...  
  
Sarah winced, guilt overcoming her. In her own selfish moping she had forgotten that Annabelle was missing. Thierry had told her that he couldn't say whether Annabelle was simply missing or...  
  
She swallowed, realizing that it *was* possible to feel sicker than she already did.  
  
"This is all just one big nightmare," Sarah said softly, wishing, for a moment, that it was possible to hide behind the silky curtain of her hair indefinitely.  
  
Mary-Lynnette's hand reached across the table, taking Sarah's and squeezing once. "I bet," was all she said, but it was enough for Sarah.  
  
"It's nice to have another human around... a real human... not one who goes out to hunt Nightworlders or one that's practically married to Thierry," Sarah said hesitantly.  
  
Mary-Lynnette nodded. "And it's nice to have another *real* human that I can talk about the Nightworld to... other than Mark." She paused, then added, "My brother." Mary-Lynnette waited another moment before glancing to her watch. "I've got to get going if I want to "surprise" Ash," she said, making little quote marks with her fingers. "But we'll have to make a point of talking again while I'm here... ok?"  
  
Sarah nodded once, feeling a pang. She couldn't just go find Kierlan to surprise him. And nothing with Blade could really qualify as a "surprise" anymore. The sickness in the pit of her stomach somehow got sharper and more twisting as though someone were turning a knife in her gut.   
  
Her feelings must have shown up on her face because Mary-Lynnette asked if she was sure she was all right with a concerned expression in her eyes.  
  
"Fine, really," Sarah said with a determined nod of her head. "I should get going too, find Blade or... something."  
  
The word hung in the air between them and Mary-Lynnette stood, chewing on her lip while studying Sarah. "Ok... but if you need anything, anything at all, just someone to talk to, whatever, come find me. I'm staying on the fourth floor... room 436."  
  
Sarah thanked her and watched the dark haired girl hurry off before picking up her yogurt container and throwing it into the trash. She rubbed her forehead tiredly and left the kitchen herself.   
  
Yeah, she could go find Blade. Sure.  
  
And then she would pretend that everything was fine when the entire world was crumbling all around her. 


End file.
